[f. TEST v.1 + -ING1.] The action of TEST v.1
1. The making of a will; the disposing of property by will.
1681. Stair, Inst. Law Scot., xxx. § 37. The power of Testing is competent to all Persons, who have the use of Reason.
1788. Priestley, Lect. Hist., V. xlviii. 362. The power of testing was first introduced by Solon.
1880. Blackie in Contemp. Rev., Jan., 44. The freedom of testing, which we derive from the law of the Twelve Tables.
1889. Stevenson, Master of B., 176. If I had been put to my oath, I must have declared he was incapable of testing.
2. Sc. Law. Testing clause: see quot. 1838.
(Here testing may be ppl. a.)
1765–8. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., II. iii. § 33. That all precepts … should be ingrossed in the charter, towards the end of it; that is, immediately before the testing clause.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., s.v., The testing clause is the technical name given to the clause whereby a formal written deed or instrument is authenticated.
1883. Law Rep., 13 App. Cas. XIII. 376. The testing clause was … ‘In witness whereof I and my said wife have subscribed these presents.’
