Published by Global News
on October 25th, 2013
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the infamous “tractor fender will,” where the dying wishes of a Saskatchewan farmer were etched into the side of a tractor as he lay pinned underneath. On June 8, 1948 Cecil George Harris became pinned under his tractor on a farm near Rosetown. Fearing he may not survive he used his pocket knife to scratch the will onto the tractor’s fender.
“In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo Harris”
Those 16 words formed a case precedent for lawyers the world over and is commonly used as an example in law textbooks on wills and estates.
The fender was removed from the tractor and determined by the courts to be a valid holographic or handwritten will.
It’s just a very unusual will and because of the circumstances under which it was written it’s attracted worldwide attention. It was written in a manner very brief, there was no doubt about his wishes and so the courts accepted it without a blink.
Geoff Ellwand, Lawyer
