[1] The legal scholar Catherine Rendell has described the case as an "extreme example" of the line of sight doctrine, being specifically concerned with defining presence "with regard to the testator being present when the witnesses signed, rather than the witnesses being present when the testator signed".
[6][note 1] The case became of renewed relevance in the legal Anglosphere during the COVID-19 pandemic following the introduction of lockdown policies.
[7] Likewise, the Financial Times noted that the requirement for the testator to sign in the presence of witnesses "is inconsistent with rigorous self-isolation".
[8] Governmental advice was usually for individuals to remain a certain distance apart to restrict the spread of the virus; however, this also had implications for the witnessing of testaments.
The rediscovery, however, of Jenkins's case enabled individuals to witness wills without the concomitant proximity of attending a legal office: as a result of her case, said The New York Times, it was confirmed that "witnessing a will through a window was legal",[9] although the Financial Times urged caution upon those who did: "relying on a precedent that pre-dates the French Revolution would potentially make wills signed and witnessed in this way open to challenge".