If all the acts and affairs of mankind which have been reduced to writing required confirmation by any evidence whatsoever, this rule should certainly prevail with reference to wills which men execute at the end of their lives, and in which they set forth their feelings and their wishes when about to depart from life. For the defects of an instrument executed by living persons, even though it may have been signed, can be detected by a careful examination of the language of the person who wrote it, and the subjects to which it has reference; but it is impossible to ascertain whether the dispositions which a testator has committed to writing are absolutely certain, where the evidence of witnesses is not available. An excellent rule was formulated by the legislator on this point, when, in order to avoid, as far as possible, having recourse to the oath of witnesses to a will, he ordered that the seal of the Master of the Census should be attached to the document, in order to establish its genuineness. For in this way, by imparting an official character to wills of doubtful authenticity through the imposition of the seal of a public magistrate, he did not afford too ready an opportunity to have the witnesses sworn, and the abuse of oaths was restrained, which is a most wise and admirable precaution. This was formerly the rule. It was, however, afterwards changed by custom, and it was settled that, in addition to witnesses, the Quaestor should affix his seal to wills for the purpose of confirming them, which appeared to Our ancestors to be the best method of doing this; and We, following their example, and desiring to render testaments perfectly valid, do hereby order that, hereafter, the seal of the Master of the Census shall no longer be attached to wills, or impart to them any validity, for the reason that this official is no longer charged with the administration or observance of the laws, and has no right to confirm wills, but that the Quaestor shall seal such documents in his stead. Nor do We assign this duty exclusively to him, but Our Most Magnificent Master and Patrician, the Urban Prefect, as well as those magistrates who preside over courts, shall, by means of their seals, attest the authenticity of such instruments. This duty shall be discharged by magistrates in the Capital, in other cities by the prefects, and in the provinces by the Governors of the same.