INFLUENCE OF OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS ON THE INTERPRETATION OF WILLS

Authors

  • Miloš Vukotić Chair of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. Boulevard of King Aleksandar 67, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25234/pv/4943

Keywords:

Interpretation, wills, purposive interpretation, substantive compliance, Law of Succession

Abstract

The author of the paper discusses rules relating to will execution formalities, and rules relating to interpretation of wills in order to show the importance of legal policy and general legal values for interpretation of wills. Aharon Barak’s theory of purposive interpretation is a starting point for the discussion because this theory emphasizes the importance of objective elements for interpretation of wills. The author analyses the main problems that arise in connection with interpretation of wills and indicates possible policy considerations underlying different approaches to interpretation. The author concludes that courts have a justifiably large freedom to interpret the words of the will and that there is convergence between civil law and common law approach to interpretation of wills, and this interpretation is often based on objective rules not connected to the most likely intent of the testator.

Author Biography

Miloš Vukotić, Chair of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. Boulevard of King Aleksandar 67, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

LLM, Assistant Lecturer

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Published

2017-04-24

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Orginal scientific article

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Miloš Vukotić

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors retain the copyright on the papers published in the Journal, but grant the right of first publication to the Journal. Papers accepted for publication or already published in Pravni vjesnik of the Faculty of Law in Osijek may be published by the author(s) in other publications only with proper notice of its previous publication in Pravni vjesnik.