LEGACY (Lepitum), a bequest or gift of goods and chattels by will or testament. The person to whom it is given is termed the legatee (legatirius); and every person is capable of being a legatee, unless particularly disabled by the common Law or by some statute.
The bequest in no case confers more than an inchoate property on the legatee, which does not become complete until the assent of the executor or administrator with the will annexed, as the case may be, has been given. [EXECUTOR.] But, before such assent, the bequest is transmissible to the personal representatives of the legatee, and will pass by his will.
Legacies are of two kinds, general and specific. A legacy is general when it is so given as not to amount to a bequest of a particular thing, or a particular fund of the testator ; a specific legacy is a bequest of a specified thing, or a specific part of the testator's estate. The whole of the estate of a person deceased being liable for the payment of his debts, legacies of both kinds are of course subject to debts : but in case of a deficiency of the estate for the payment of the legacies, the general legatees can only be paid in equal proportion ; and they must, as it is technically termed, abate. But a specific legatee is not com pelled to abate or allow any thing by way of abatement, though his legacy may be taken for the payment of debts, in case the general have all been applied to pay them and there is still a deficiency to meet the demands on the estate of the deceased. Specific legatees may, however, be compelled to abate as against one another. If the part of the testator's estate which is specifically given has been dis posed of by the testator in his lifetime, or at the time of his death has ceased to exist in such form as described in his will, the general rule is, that the specific legatee loses his legacy, and is not entitled to any satisfaction out of the general estate : in such case the legacy is said to be adeemed, a term which has been derived from the Roman law, though the word ` adimere ' is not there used exactly in this sense. (Dig. 34, 4.) There is also a third description of lesucy partaking re somewhat of the nature of both kinds already as a gift of no much money, with reference to a particular fund for payment. This is called a demonstrative legacy, but so far differs from one properly specific, that if the fund pointed out fails on any account, the legatee will be paid out of the general assets ; yet it is so far specific that it is not liable to abate in case of deficiency of the general assets.
Legacies may be given either absolutely (purd) or upon condition (sub conditione), or upon the happening of any contingency ; provided it must happen, if at all, within the duration of a life or lives in being at time time of the decease of the testator and twenty-one years after wards, allowing in addition the period of gestation where the contin gency depends upon the birth of a child. Legacies may also be given in such a way that though no condition is expressed in distinct terms, it may be clearly inferred that the testator did not intend his gifts to take effect till a definite time had arrived or a definite event had taken place. When a legatee has obtained such an interest in the legacy as to be,fully entitled to the property in it, the legacy is said to be vested, and this property may be acquired long before the right to the posses sion of the legacy accrues. A vested legacy partakes of the incidents of property so fares to be transmissible to the personal representatives of the party entitled to it, or to pass by his will; a legacy which is contingent or not vested is no property at all with respect to the legatee. This distinction of legacies, vested or not vested, seems derived from the Roman Law, which expresses the fact of vesting by the words ' dies legati cedit.' Formerly, in all cases when a legatee died before the testator, the legacy lapsed, or failed, and went to the person appointed residuary legatee by the testator, or if there was none such, to the next of kin ; and Lapse might also take place (as already observed with respect to a legacy given to a legatee at a perticular time, or upon condition, or the happening of a contingency) if the legatee died before the appointed time arrived, or if the condition was not performed, or the contingency did not happen. The Wills Act, 1 Vict. c. 26, sect. 33, modified the old rule, and directed that when legacies are bequeathed to a child or other issue of the testator who shall die in his lifetime, leaving issue, and such issue shall be living at the testator's death, the legacies shall not lapse unless a contrary intention appears upon the face of the will, but shall take effect as if the legatee had died im mediately after the testator.