John Banks believed devils and a dead man were pursuing him, left his cottages to his niece, and the court upheld the will

John Banks was confined in a county lunatic asylum in 1841. After his discharge he kept fixed delusions. He believed that Featherstone Alexander, a man he had disliked and who had died years before, was still pursuing him, and that devils or evil spirits pursued him too. From September 1863 he had epileptic fits, and his doctor thought him insane. Other witnesses said he handled his own money and dealt sensibly with his agent and landlady. In 1838 he had made a will for a sister, who had since died. On 2 December 1863 he gave instructions for a will leaving his property to his niece, Margaret Goodfellow, on the same terms, and he signed the formal will on 27 December 1863. His estate was cottage property in Keswick that let for about £80 a year. Banks died in July 1865. Margaret Goodfellow died unmarried and under age in 1867. Banks's heir-at-law sued her heir. A jury upheld the will. On 6 July 1870 Chief Justice Cockburn ruled that the delusions had no influence on how Banks disposed of his property, and set out the test of testamentary capacity. English courts still apply it, including in Clitheroe v Bond in 2022. In May 2025 the Law Commission recommended replacing it with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 test.