LEGACY. A gift by last will. The term is more commonly applied to money or personal property, although sometimes used with reference to a charge upon real estate. 2 Williams, Exec. 947 ; 5 Term, 716; 1 Burr. 268 ; 7 Ves. Ch. 391, 522.
An absolute legacy is one given without condition, to vest immediately. 1 Vern. Ch. 254 ; 2 id. 181 ; 5 Ves. Ch. 461 ; 19 id. 86 ; Comyns, Dig. Chancery (I 4).
An additional legacy is one given to a lega tee to whom a legacy has already been given. It may be either by an increase in a codicil of a prior legacy given in the will, or by an other legacy added to that already given by ihe will. 6 Mod. 31; 2 Ves. Ch. 449; 3 Mer. Ch. 154.
An alternative legacy is one by which the testator gives one of two or more things with out designating which.
A conditional legacy is a bequest whose existence depends upon the happening or not happening of some uncertain event, by which it is either to take place or be defeated. 1 Roper, Leg. 3d ed. 645.
A demonstrative legacy is a bequest of a certain sum of money with reference to a par ticular fund for payment. Williams, Exec. 995.
A general legacy is one so given as not to amount to a bequest of a particular thing or money of the testator, distinguished from all others of the same kind. 1 Roper, Leg. 3d ed. 170.
An indefrate legacy is a bequest of things which are not enumerated or ascertained as to numbers or quantities: as, a bequest by a testator of all his goods, all his stocks in the funds. Lowndes, Leg. 84 ; Swinburne, Wills, 485 ; Ambl. Ch. 641 ; 1 P. Will. Ch. 697.
A lapsed legacy is one which, in conse quence of the death of the legatee before the testator or before the period for vesting, has never vested.
A legacy for life is one in which the lega tee is to enjoy the use of the legacy for life.
A modal legacy is a bequest accompanied with directions as to the mode in which it should be applied for the legatee's benefit: for example, a legacy to Titius to put him an apprentice. 2 Vern. Ch. 431 ; Lowndes, Leg. nl.
A pecuniary legacy is one of money. Pe cuniary legacies are most usually general legacies, but there may be a specific pecu niary legacy : for example, of the money in a certain bag. 1 Raper, Leg. 150, n.
A residuary legacy is a bequest of all the testator's personal estate not otherwise effect ually disposed of by his will. Lowndes, Leg. 10 ; Bacon, Abr. Legacies (I).
A specific legacy is a bequest of a specified part of the testa,tor's personal estate, distin guished from all others of the same kind. 3 Beav. Rolls, 349.
2. Most persons are capable of becoming legatees, unless prohibited by statute or alien enemies. Legacies to the subscribing wit nesses to a will are by statute often declared void. Ses 2 Williamq, Exec. 4th Am. ed. 906 et seq. ; 19 Ves. Ch. 208; 10 Sim. Ch. 487 ; 3 Russ. Ch. 437 ; I Sharewood, Blackst. Comm. 442. Bequests to superstitious uses are pro hibited by many of the English statutes. No doubt a bequest to further and carry into effect any illegal purp which the law re gards as subversive of sound policy or good morals, would be held void, and the executor not justified in paying it. 2 Beav. Rolls, 151; 2 Mylne & K. Ch. 697; 5 Mylne & C. Ch. 11; 1 Salk. 162 ; 2 Vern. Ch. 266. But bequests to charitable uses are favored both in Eng land and the United States. The cases are extensively collated in 2 Williams, Exec. 951, n. 1 ; 4 Kent, Comm. 508 ; 2 How. U. S. R. 127 ; 4 Wheat. 1 ; 7 Johns. Ch. N. Y. 292 ; 20 Ohio, 483; 10 Penn. St. 23; 11 Vt. 296 ; 5 Cush. Mass. 336 ; 12 Conn. 113 ; Saxt. Ch. N. J. 577; 3 Leigh, Va.450 ; 2 Ired. Eq. No.
C. 9, 210 ; 5 Humphr. Tenn. 170 ; 11 Beav. Rolls, 481 ; 14 id. ff57 ; 10 Hare, Ch. 446. It is questionable whether the English cases in regard to bequests to secure the offices of the Roman Church, being void, would or should be followed in this country. In those states where the principles of the statute of Eliza beth in regard to charitable uses are recog nized in the equity courts, the decisions have been liberal in upholding bequests for the most diverse objects and expressed in the most general terms. 17 Serg. & R. Penn. 88; 2 Ired. Eq. No. C. 210; 1 Gilm. Va. 336; 7 Vt. 241; 2 Sandf. Ch. N.Y. 46; 7 B. Meer. Ky. 617, 618-622 ; 2 How. 127 ; 9 Penn. St. 433 ; 7 Johns. Ch. N. Y. 292.