a Part III. CHAPTER IV. BEQUESTS AND MORTIS CAUSA DONATIONES. § 178. NATURE AND OBJECT OF BEQUESTS. BOOK III. BEQUEST (legatum in the wider sense) is in general the appropriation by last will of a single portion of property to a third person, diminishing the heritage in its character as the object of universal succession, whether direct or indirect, i.e., according to its value. The taker of the bequest (legatee) is called 'honoratus'; he that has to discharge it, the oneratus.' The validity of a bequest is conditioned by the commencement of universal succession." § 153, ad init.; D. 26, 2, Flor. Legatum est delibatio hereditatis, qua testator ex eo, quod universum heredis foret, alicui quid collatum velit.-1. 116 pr., D. de leg. I.' Mod. Legatum est donatio testamento relicta. -1. 36 eod. II.; cf. Inst. ii. 20, 1.62 The general requisites of a bequest are the following (1) The honoratus must possess testamenti factio. Legari autem illis solis potest, cum quibus testamenti factio est.-§ 24, I. h. t. (de legat. 2, 20).3 (2) He must be a certa persona. Ulp. xxiv. 18: Incertae personae legari non potest, veluti: Quicumque filio meo filiam suam what is owing to each. Against him also the creditors have generally command of analogous actions. 1 A bequest is a deduction from the inheritance by which the testator desires to appropriate something to any person from the whole that would belong to the heir. 2 A bequest is a gift left by testament. 3 Now a bequest can be made alone to those with whom there is testamenti factio. in matrimonium collocaverit, ei heres meus tot (3) By ante-Justinianean Law, the bequest cannot merely take the form of a penalty imposed upon the oneratus (poenae nomine relictum). Ib. § 17: Poenae causa legari non potest; poenae autem causa legatur, quod coercendi heredis causa relinquitur, ut faciat quid aut non faciat, non ut ad legatarium pertineat, ut puta hoc modo: Si filiam tuam in matrimonium Titio collocaveris, decem milia Seio dato.'" At huiusmodi scrupulositas nobis non placuit, et generaliter ea quae relinquuntur, licet poenae nomine fuerint relicta vel adempta vel in alios translata, nihil distare a ceteris legatis constituimus.- 36, I. h. t.3 In general, everything that confers any proprietary advantage upon the beneficiary can be the object of the bequest. And so, both corporeal things-whether single (determined individually or generically, especially money), or collective wholes, e.g., grex, suppellex, or 1 A bequest cannot be left to an uncertain person; for example, thus: 'Whosoever shall have given his daughter in marriage to my son, let my heir give him so many thousand sesterces.' A bequest can, however, be made to an uncertain person under a definite description; for example, thus: Let my heir give such and such a thing to him of my present kinsmen who shall first come to my funeral.' 2 A bequest cannot be made by way of penalty; and a bequest is by way of penalty when something is left for the purpose of obliging the heir to do or forbear from doing any act, and not with the view of its belonging to the legatee; as for example, in this way : 'If you give your daughter in marriage to Titius, give Seius 10,000 sesterces.' 3 But we have not approved of exactitude of this kind, and have settled in general terms that whatever is left, although left, revoked, or transferred to different persons by way of penalty, shall not differ from other bequests. BOOK III. Part III. G BOOK III. totalities of property, e.g., peculium, or further, performances solitary or repeated (rents, alimony)—and rights (iura in re aliena," and claims). Claims can in different ways form the object of a bequest: legatum • C. 6, 37, 18. nominis, legatum liberationis, legatum debiti. • § 96. Paul. iii. 6, § 17: Ususfructus uniuscuiusque rei legari potest, et aut ipso iure constituetur aut per heredem praestabitur: ex causa damnationis per heredem praestabitur, ipso iure per vindicationem.c1 Tam autem corporales res quam incorporales legari possunt; et ideo et quod defuncto debetur, potest alicui legari, ut actiones suas heres legatario praestet, nisi exegerit vivus testator pecuniam : nam hoc casu legatum extinguitur. Sed et tale legatum valet Damnas esto heres domum illius reficere,' velillum aere alieno liberare.'-§ 21, I. h. t.2 Si quis debitori suo liberationem legaverit, legatum utile est et neque ab ipso debitore neque ab herede eius potest heres petere, nec ab alio qui heredis loco est: sed et potest a debitore conveniri, ut liberet eum. Potest autem quis vel ad tempus iubere, ne heres petat.-Ex contrario si debitor creditori suo quod debet legaverit, inutile est legatum, si nihil plus est in legato quam in debito, quia nihil amplius habet per legatum quodsi in diem vel sub condicione 1 The usufruct can be bequeathed of anything whatsoever, and will either be determined by operation of law, or will be made over by the heir: it will be made over by the heir on the ground of damnatio, and by operation of law through vindicatio.a 2 Now a bequest can be made of both corporeal and incorporeal things; and therefore even that which is due to the deceased may be bequeathed to a person, so that the heir make over to the legatee his rights of action, unless the testator has got in the money during his lifetime; for in this case the legacy lapses. But a legacy of the following kind also holds good: 'Let my heir be bound to repair the house of so and so,' or 'to release so and so from his debts.' debitum ei pure legaverit, utile est legatum propter BOOK III. repraesentationem.-§§ 13-14, I. eod.' Iul. Respondit, quotiens debitor creditori suo legaret, ita inutile esse legatum, si nihil interesset creditoris, ex testamento potius agere, quam ex pristina obligatione.-D. 34, 3, 11 pr.2 Like as in succession is exhibited the opposition of ius civile and ius praetorium, so in Hereditas and Bonorum Possessio does that of Civil Law, which is more strict, and that which is more equitable-rooted in ius gentium-display its operation in respect of bequests upon this is grounded the distinction of 'legatum' and 'fideicommissum.' The former is the older, more stringent and narrow, the latter the more modern, more liberal and broad form of bequest.The assimilation of the two forms-as in respect of universal succession, the fusion of the Civil and the Praetorian system of succession-was first accomplished in the Justinianean Law. Ulp. xxiv. I: Legatum est quod legis modo id est imperative testamento relinquitur: nam ea quae precativo modo relinquuntur, fideicommissa vocantur.3 1 If a man have bequeathed to his debtor a release of the debt, the bequest is operative, and his heir cannot claim payment from the debtor himself, his heir, or other person in the place of heir. But he may himself be sued by the debtor to give him a release. Now a man may direct his heir not to sue for a certain time. On the other hand, if a debtor bequeath to his creditor the debt due to him, such bequest is ineffectual, if there be nothing more in the bequest than in the debt, because he receives nothing more by the bequest. But if he make an absolute bequest of a debt due at a future time or conditional, the bequest is valid on account of its earlier payment. He answered: Whenever the debtor makes a bequest to his creditor, such bequest is invalid, if it should be of no advantage to the creditor rather to sue upon the testament than upon the original obligation. 8 A Bequest is that which is left by testament in the form of a lex, that is, imperatively; for those bequests which are made in the form of a request are called fideicommissa. Part III. BOOK III. Part III. Id. xxv. 1: Fideicommissum est quod non civilibus verbis, sed precative relinquitur; nec ex rigore iuris civilis proficiscitur, sed ex voluntate datur relinquentis.' SPECIES OF BEQUESTS. § 179. LEGATA. The person to make a testament can leave a legatum only if he make a testament; and indeed by older Law it had always to be provided for in the testament itself, by classical Law it could also be in 'codicilli a § 180, ad fin. testamento confirmati.' a Gai. ii. § 270a: Legatum codicillis relictum non aliter valet, quam si a testatore confirmati fuerint, id est nisi in testamento caverit testator, ut quidquid in codicillis scripserit, id ratum sit.2 Moreover, the disposition can only obtain after the Ulp. xxiv. 15. institution of heir, and the legacy can only be imposed upon a testamentary heir. Ulp. xxiv. §§ 20-21: A legatario legari non potest. Legatum ab eo tantum dari potest, qui heres institutus est: ideoque filiofamiliae herede instituto vel servo, neque a patre neque a domino legari potest.3 Ib. § 16 Etiam post mortem heredis legari non potest, ne ab heredis herede legari videatur, quod iuris civilis ratio non patitur; in mortis autem 1 A fideicommissum is a bequest expressed not in the language of the ius civile, but by way of request; and does not take effect by force of civil law, but is given in agreement with the wish of the person leaving it. 2 A legacy left by a codicil is not valid unless it has been confirmed by the testator, that is, unless the testator has provided in his testament that whatever he shall have written in his codicil is to be ratified. 3 A legacy cannot be charged upon a legatee.-A legacy can only be charged upon him who has been instituted heir; and therefore, if it be a fil. fam. or a slave that is instituted heir, a legacy cannot be charged upon his father or his master. |