A great deal of difficulty has been experienced in finding a definition of a will which is both clear and accurate. Among the leading recent definitions are the following:

"A will is an instrument by which a person makes a disposition of his property to take effect after his decease, and which is, in its own nature, ambulatory and revocable during his life." 1

"A will is the expression, in the manner required by law, and operative for a purpose until death, of that which one may lawfully require to be done after his death."2

"The legal declaration of a man's intention, which he wills to be performed after his death." 3

"A will, in our legal sense, is the solemn disposition of one's property, to take effect after death; and in this disposition one fitly contemplates not only the purposes to which such property shall be devoted, but the person or persons by whom those purposes shall be executed, or carried into effect."4