Yes you appear to have the Probate Copy, and layout does seem to be a fairly
modern invention.
It became a standard for a long time that no punctuation would be used in a will
because if one person saw a comma, and another one did not, they might read two
different meanings. The exception was that each new clause could start with a
capital letter, so you might find And in the middle of a line and know it was a
new command. Probate clerks did not follow the testator's page and lines, but
just crammed into their register tightly. Sometimes they would write a squiggle
just to show where there was a new line in the original, and often if there was
no room for a word at the end of a line, they would fill up with more squiggles
to prevent insertions, then write the word on the next line. Because of these
practices, often where the signatories write a footnote to say the testator
initialled an alteration on a particular page and line before signing the will
the copy will not match up for page and line anyway and the clerk will not have
copied the alteration either. All that to confuse us, and sure enough it does.
You will often see L.S. near the 'signature' on a copy will or other document.
this stands for Locus Sigilli (place of the seal) and shows the position of the
seal on the original relative to the signature. it was important to record the
presence of a seal, because in English law at one time, a signature and seal
carried more weight than a signature alone.
