Editing Howland will forgery trial (section)

{{Short description|1868 U.S. court case}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
The '''Howland will forgery trial''' (''Robinson v. Mandell'') was a [[United States|U.S.]] court case in 1868 where businesswoman [[Henrietta Howland Robinson|Henrietta "Hetty" Howland Robinson]], who would later become the richest woman in America, contested the validity of the [[Will (law)|will]] of her grandaunt, Sylvia Ann Howland.

According to Sylvia Howland's will, half of her $2&nbsp;million estate ({{Inflation|US|2000000|1865|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) would go to various charities and entities, the rest would be in a trust for Hetty Robinson. Robinson challenged the will's validity by producing an earlier will that left the entire estate to her, and which included a clause invalidating any subsequent wills.<ref name="Janet2">{{cite book|last1=Wallach|first1=Janet|title=The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age|date=2012|publisher=Anchor Books|isbn=9780307474575|location=New York|pages=9–21, 37, 45}}</ref>{{rp|68,81–88,102}} The case was ultimately decided against Robinson after the court ruled that the clause invalidating future wills and Sylvia's signature to it were [[Forgery|forgeries]].<ref>{{cite court|url=https://case.law/caselaw/?reporter=f-cas&volume=20&case=1027-02|litigants=Robinson v. Mandell|vol=20|reporter=F. Cas.|opinion=1027|court=C.C.D. Mass.|year=1868}} (No. 11,959)</ref>

It is famous for the [[forensic]] use of [[mathematics]] by [[Benjamin Peirce]] as an [[expert witness]].