The  cases,  considered  in  the  present  section,  are  instances  of  the  former  class,
in  which  there  has  been  a  covenant  by  a  husband,  to  leave  or  pay  to  his  wife  a
sum  of  ftioney  at  his  death,  and  he  dies  intestate ;  and  his  wife's  distributive
share  of  his  personalty,  under  the  statute,  is  equal  to,  or  more  than,  the  sum
stipulated  under  the  covenant.  In  that  case,  he  is  held  to  have  performed,
througb  the  operation  of  the  law,  what  he  had  covenanted  to  do.  The  .other
case  is,  where  the  wife  takes  a  benefit,  to  an  equal  or  greater  extent  under  the
husband's  will,  to  which  the  same  reasoning  is  not  applicable.  But,  although
the  bequest  is  not  a  performance,  still  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  testator  in-
tended it  as  a  satisfaction  of  the  covenant,  so  as  to  raise  a  case  of  election.  Sat-
isfaction, as  Sir  Thomas'  Plumer  observes,  supposes  intention ;  it  is  something
different  from  the  subject  of  the  contract,  and  substituted  for  it;  And  the  ques-
tion always  arises.  Was  the  thing  intended  as  a  substitute  for  the  thing  cove-


^56  EQUITY    JURISPRUDENCE.  [cH.    XXX.
