Definition
A term from Spanish civil law referring broadly to the voluntary surrender, release, or abandonment of property or rights. The term encompasses three principal applications:
1. Insolvency surrender: The act by which an insolvent debtor relinquishes all property to creditors in satisfaction of debts, analogous to a general assignment for the benefit of creditors.
2. Renunciation of inheritance: The formal act by which an heir declines or abandons a succession, refusing to accept the rights and obligations that would otherwise pass to them.
3. Abandonment to insurer: The relinquishment of insured property by the insured party to the underwriter or insurer, typically following a loss, in exchange for a claim on the full insured value.
Common Confusion
DEJACION should not be confused with DEJERATION, a distinct Latin-origin term meaning the taking of a solemn oath. Bouvier's entry places both terms in close proximity, and the visual and phonetic similarity has occasionally caused misattribution in older secondary sources. The two terms share no legal relationship.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Three formally recognized applications appear across the historical sources:
- Dejacion in insolvency (surrender to creditors)
- Dejacion of an inheritance (renunciation of succession)
- Dejacion to underwriters (abandonment of insured property)
Why It Matters in Research
Dejacion is a term of Spanish civil law and will surface primarily in legal materials touching jurisdictions with Spanish legal heritage — Louisiana, Texas, California, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the former Spanish colonial territories. Researchers working in pre-statehood or early territorial records for any of these jurisdictions may encounter dejacion in its original procedural context.
The three distinct applications create a research trap: the same word in a historical document may refer to an insolvency proceeding, a probate matter, or a marine or property insurance dispute. Context is essential before cross-referencing to related doctrine.
In Louisiana research, dejacion in the insolvency sense is the most likely usage and connects to the civilian tradition of cession of goods (cession de biens), which the Louisiana Civil Code addressed directly. Do not assume that dejacion maps cleanly onto common-law concepts such as bankruptcy discharge or disclaimer of inheritance — the procedural mechanisms and legal effects differ.
The term largely disappears from American legal usage after the late nineteenth century as Spanish-law jurisdictions were absorbed into common-law or codified American systems. Its appearance in modern sources is almost exclusively historical, comparative, or Puerto Rico-specific.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Bouvier's are in substantive agreement on the core meaning. All three sources identify dejacion as a Spanish law term encompassing surrender, release, and abandonment. Black's 2nd edition provides the most complete list of applications, explicitly naming all three recognized subtypes. Bouvier adds the inheritance renunciation application explicitly and is the only source to distinguish dejacion from dejeration in the same entry — a useful editorial signal that the two were occasionally confused even at the time of publication.
None of the historical sources elaborate on procedural mechanics, legal effect, or the distinctions between dejacion and equivalent common-law or civilian doctrines. Researchers needing substantive depth on any of the three applications should look beyond these dictionary entries to civilian treatises and jurisdiction-specific codes.
Jurisdictional Note
Dejacion is a term of Spanish civil law and is most relevant in research involving Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Texas, California, and other historically Spanish-law jurisdictions. Louisiana's civilian tradition preserved the closest functional analogs through the doctrine of cession of goods. Puerto Rico, as a civil law jurisdiction, remains the most likely venue for contemporary encounter with the term or its conceptual descendants.