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Falsa Demonstratio Non Nacet

A wrong description of an item in a legal document (such as a will) will not necessarily void the gift if it can be determined from other facts.

In Wong v Lee, a 1993 British Columbia Court of Appeal case, cited at 49 ETR 121, and quoting from Theobald on Wills:

"The principle of falsa demonstratio non nocet means that if, on considering the language of a will with the aid of any admissible extrinsic evidence, the court comes to the conclusion that the testator intended to pass something and can determine what that something is, then the fact that the testator gave it a wrong description in his will does not prevent the will taking effect in regard to the subject matter intended by the testator. The principle may be applied in whatever part of the description the error occurred ...

"Thus, if T makes a specific gift of certain stock, and T at the date of his will possessed no such stock but possessed other stock which the court decides was meant, the latter stock passes under the gift despite the false description."

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Unless otherwise noted, this article was written by Lloyd Duhaime, Barrister, Solicitor, Attorney and Lawyer (and Notary Public!). It is not intended to be legal advice and you would be foolhardy to rely on it in respect to any specific situation you or an acquaintance may be facing. In addition, the law changes rapidly and sometimes with little notice so from time to time, an article may not be up to date. Therefore, this is merely legal information designed to educate the reader. If you have a real situation, this information will serve as a good springboard to get legal advice from a lawyer.

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