Edmonson & Albaugh (No 2)

In *Edmonson & Albaugh (No 2)*, Young J of the Supreme Court of New South Wales considered a dispute concerning the proper construction of a will. The applicants, Edmonson and Albaugh, sought to have the court determine the beneficiaries of a trust established by the will of the late Mr. Arthur Reginald Edmonson.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the phrase "my nephews and nieces" as used in the will referred to all nephews and nieces of the testator, or only those who were the children of his siblings. This ambiguity arose because the testator had no siblings who had children, but he did have nephews and nieces through his wife's siblings.

Young J reasoned that the primary rule of construction was to ascertain the testator's intention from the words used in the will itself. His Honour found that the natural and ordinary meaning of "nephews and nieces" in the context of a will referred to blood relations. As the testator had no blood nephews or nieces, and the will did not otherwise indicate an intention to include collateral relations of his wife, the gift failed for uncertainty.

Consequently, the court ordered that the residuary estate of the testator would pass as on an intestacy.