Douglass v. Douglass

I dissent.

As pointed out in the majority opinion, we are here called upon to interpret, without the benefit of any extrinsic evidence, a clause of a will. The Supreme Court in Estate of *288Platt, 21 Cal.2d 343 [131 P.2d 825], has adopted the rule that when a question of construction is presented to an appellate court, and the document alone is before the court without extrinsic evidence, it is the duty of the appellate court to exercise its independent judgment as to which of several constructions is the most reasonable, without reference to the construction given by the tidal court. (See, also,…