DEVISE

9 definitions found across Law Mind sources

DEVISEAuthored
The Law Mind • 1168 words
Definition
A testamentary disposition of real property — that is, a gift of land or other realty made through a last will and testament. The person making the devise is the devisor; the person receiving it is the devisee. Devise is the proper technical term for gifts of real property by will. It is distinguished from a bequest or legacy, which refer to gifts of personal property by will. In modern statutes and drafting, however, the distinction has eroded: many jurisdictions now use "devise" to cover both real and personal property, and the Uniform Probate Code treats devises as encompassing all testamentary gifts regardless of property type. The term functions as both a noun (the gift itself: "a devise of Blackacre") and a verb (the act of giving: "to devise the property to one's daughter").
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To use one's intellect to plan or design something; to contrive or invent. Also, a secondary meaning: to leave property in a will. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To form in the mind by new combinations of ideas; to contrive, invent, or scheme; to excogitate. The dominant common meaning — to invent or contrive — is entirely separate from the legal meaning. A reader encountering "devise" in a historical legal document should not import the connotation of cleverness or planning. The legal term carries no such sense; it refers strictly to a testamentary act of transfer. That said, the secondary Wiktionary sense (to leave property by will) reflects awareness of the legal term, suggesting the legal meaning has partially bled into educated common usage.
Common Confusion
DEVISE vs. BEQUEST vs. LEGACY: Historically, devise applied only to real property, bequest and legacy to personal property. Many practitioners and even courts used these terms loosely or interchangeably, and historical sources frequently acknowledge the slippage. Researchers should not assume that a source using "devise" necessarily refers to real property alone — context and jurisdiction matter. Under modern statutory schemes, including the Uniform Probate Code, "devise" has been extended to cover all testamentary gifts, collapsing the old distinction. DEVISE vs. GIFT vs. GRANT: A devise operates only at death through a valid will. An inter vivos gift transfers property during the donor's life. A grant typically involves a formal conveyance instrument. These are not interchangeable, and the distinction is legally critical in questions of capacity, delivery, and revocability.
Why It Matters in Research
The real/personal property distinction is the central trap in historical research on this term. Sources before the mid-twentieth century, including all of the historical dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus, define devise as applying only to real property. If a historical document uses "devise" to refer to what appears to be personal property, the researcher must consider whether the drafter was using the term technically, loosely, or whether the underlying asset classification was itself different than modern categories suggest (for example, fixtures, leaseholds, and mixed estates created classification problems at common law). Statutory reform has altered the landscape substantially. The Uniform Probate Code, first promulgated in 1969 and widely adopted in revised form, defines "devise" to include gifts of both real and personal property, expressly abandoning the old distinction. Researchers working with post-UPC statutes or cases in UPC jurisdictions will encounter a materially different usage than in pre-reform sources. The same word means something narrower in an 1880 will contest than in a 2005 probate proceeding. Burrill's Law Dictionary introduces a complicating layer: in Old French and early English legal usage, "devise" (or devises) referred to boundary lines or spaces between neighboring lands — a sense entirely unrelated to testamentary law. This usage appears in Britton and other early sources. Researchers working in medieval or early modern English land records should be alert to this distinct meaning. The corpus also connects devise to broader questions of testamentary capacity, the Statute of Wills (1540), and its successors. Because a devise is will-dependent, any research thread touching on devise will eventually intersect with questions of what constitutes a valid will, who may take as devisee, and what happens when a devise fails (lapse, abatement, ademption). These are closely related but distinct research pathways.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) and Bouvier's Law Dictionary are in agreement on the core definition: devise is a gift of real property by will, and the technical term does not extend to personal property, though both acknowledge that courts and statutes sometimes applied it more broadly to carry out testamentary intent. Bouvier is explicit that the term is "sometimes improperly applied to a bequest or legacy," flagging the imprecision in practice. Black's (2nd ed.) cites multiple cases across jurisdictions to anchor the definition. Burrill's Law Dictionary is the most historically expansive, tracing the term to its Old French and Latin roots (devisamentum, devisatio) and identifying the pre-legal sense of "boundary" or "division line" — a meaning that does not appear in the other dictionaries and that reflects Burrill's characteristic attention to linguistic and historical depth. Rapalje & Lawrence and Anderson's Dictionary of Law do not appear to carry substantive entries on devise itself in the excerpted material; their excerpted passages address related but distinct topics (detinue, deviation). Researchers should not rely on these sources for the devise definition without consulting their full text. The historical dictionaries uniformly predate the Uniform Probate Code and therefore reflect the strict real/personal property distinction. None address the modern statutory collapse of that distinction — a significant gap that researchers relying on these sources alone must account for.
Jurisdictional Note
UPC-adopting states have formally extended "devise" to cover all testamentary gifts, making the real/personal distinction irrelevant under those statutes. Non-UPC states, particularly those with older probate codes, may retain the traditional distinction in statutory text even where courts have moved toward a broader interpretation. Louisiana's civil law tradition uses different terminology and concepts altogether; researchers dealing with Louisiana testamentary law should not import common law devise doctrine.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Wills and Testamentary Instruments; Real Property Transfer; Probate and Estate Administration
Related Terms
Bequest — testamentary gift of personal property; historically the counterpart to devise Legacy — gift of personal property by will; often used interchangeably with bequest Devisor — the testator making the devise Devisee — the recipient of the devise Testator / Testatrix — the person making any will Residuary devise — devise of whatever real property remains after specific devises Specific devise — devise of an identified piece of real property Lapse — failure of a devise when the devisee predeceases the testator Ademption — failure of a specific devise when the property no longer exists in the estate at death Bequest vs. devise — see COMMON CONFUSION above Will — the instrument through which a devise operates Intestate succession — governs when no valid devise exists Uniform Probate Code — the modern statutory framework that has redefined the term
DEVISEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
his will. 7 Brown, Parl. Cas. 437; 2 Atk. 424; 5 Pa. St. 21.
DEVISEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
A gift of real property by will. Devise properly relates to the disposal of real property, not of personal. 21 Barb. 551, 561. Devise is properly applied to gifts of real prop- erty by will, but may be extended to embrace per- sonal property, to execute the intention of the tes- tator. 6 Ired. Eq. 173. The words "devise," "legacy," and "bequest" may be applied indifferently to real or personal property, if such appears by the context of a will to have been the testator's intention. 21 N. H. 514. Devises are contingent or vested; that is, after the death of the testator. Contingent, when the vesting of any estate in the devisee is made to depend upon some future event, in which case, if the event never occur, or until it does occur, no estate vests under the devise. But, when the future event is re- ferred to merely to determine the time at which the devisee shall come into the use of the estate, this does not hinder the vesting of the estate at the death of the testator. Jarm. Wills, c. 26. An executory devise of lands is such a dispo- sition of them by will that thereby no estate vests at the death of the devisor, but only on some future contingency. It differs from a
DEVISEmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
A gift of real property by a last will and testament. The term devise, properly and technically, applies only to real estate; the object of the devise must, therefore, be that kind of property; 1 Hill, Abr. c. 88, 68; 21 Barb. 561. But it is also sometimes im- properly applied to a bequest or legacy. See 4 Kent 489; 8 Viner, Abr. 41; Com. Dig. Estates by Devise. Although the word "devise" is more specially ap propriate to a gift of lands, yet the terms" bequest" and "devise" are used indifferently, and legatees may take under a devise of lands, if the context of the will shows that such was the testator's intention; 21 Ν. Η. 515; 58 Pa. 427. A general devise of lands will pass a re- version in fee, even though the testator has other lands which will satisfy the words of the devise, and although it be highly im- probable that he had in mind such reversion; 3 P. Wms. 56; 3 Bro. P. C. 408; 4 Bro. Ch. 338; 1 Metc. Mass. 281; 8 Ves. 256. A general devise will pass leases for years, if the testator have no other real estate upon which the will may operate; but if he have both lands in fee and lands for years, a devise of all his lands and tenements will commonly pass only the lands in fee-simple; Cro. Car. 293; 1 Ed. Ch. 151; 6 Sim. 99. But if a contrary intention appear from the will, it will prevail ; 5 Ves. 540; 9 East 448. Testator "gave, devised and bequeathed all his furniture, goods, chattels and effects, whatsoever the same may be and whereso- ever situate." It was held that giving ex- pression to the word "devise," in connection with the other terms of the will, that the gift passed all the property of the testator, whether real or personal; [1891] 8 Ch. 389. A devise in a will can never be regarded as the execution of a power, unless that intention is manifest: as, where the will would otherwise have nothing upon which it could operate. But the devise to have that operation need not necessarily refer to the power in express terms. But where there is an interest upon which it can oper- ate, it shall be referred to that, unless some other intention is obvious; 6 Co. 176; 6 Madd. 190; 4 Kent 334; 1 Jarm. Wills 628. The devise of all one's lands will not gene- rally carry the interest of a mortgagee, in premises, unless that intent is apparent: 2 Vern. 621; 3 P. Wms. 61; 1 Jarm. Wills, 633. The fact that the mortgagee is in pos- session is sometimes of importance in de- termining the purpose of the devise. But many cases hold that the interest of a mort- gagee or trustee will pass by a general de- vise of all one's land, unless a contrary intent be shown; 13 Johns. 537; 8 Ves. 407: 1 J. & W. 494. But see 9 B. & C. 267. This is indeed the result of the modern de- cisions, 4 Kent 539; 1 Jarm. Wills 638. It seems-clear that a devise of one's mortgages will pass the beneficial title of the mortga- gee; 4 Kent 539. Devises may be contingent or vested, after the death of the testator. They are con- tingent when the vesting of any estate in the devisee is made to depend upon some future event, in which case, if the event never occur, or until it does occur, no estate vests under the devise. But when the future event is referred to merely to determine the time at which the devisee shall come into the use of the estate, this does not hinder the vesting of the estate at the death of the testator; 1 Jarm. Wills, c. xxvi., and numerous cases cited. The law favors that construction of the will which will vest the estate; 21 Pick. 311; 1 W. & S. 205. But this construction must not be carried to such an extent as to defeat the manifest intent of the testator; 21 Pick. 311; 7 Metc. 171. Where the estate is given absolutely, but only the time of possession is deferred, the devisee or legatee acquires a transmis- sible interest although he never arrive at the age to take possession; 1 Ves. Sen. 44, 59, 118; 4 Pick. 198; 7 Metc. 173. See LAPSED DEVISE; WILL; LEGACY; CHARGE.
DEVISEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To form in the mind by new combinations of ideas, new applications of principles, or new arrangement of parts; to formulate by thought; to contrive; to excogitate; to invent; to plan; to scheme; as, to devise an engine, a new mode of writing, a plan of defense, or an argument. To devise curious works. Ex. CCTV. 32. Devising schemes to realize his ambitious views. Bancroft. To plan or scheme for; to purpose to obtain. For wisdom is most riches; fools therefore They are which fortunes do by vows devise. Spenser. To say; to relate; to describe. [Obs.] Chaucer. To imagine; to guess. [Obs.] Spenser. To give by will; -- used of real estate; formerly, also, of chattels.
DEVISEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider. I thought, devised, and Pallas heard my prayer. Pope.
DEVISEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The act of giving or disposing of real estate by will; -- sometimes improperly applied to a bequest of personal estate. A will or testament, conveying real estate; the clause of a will making a gift of real property. Fines upon devises were still exacted. Bancroft. Property devised, or given by will.
deviseverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something). | To leave (property) in a will. | To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider. | To plan or scheme for; to plot to obtain. | To imagine; to guess.
devisenoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
The act of leaving real property in a will. | Such a will, or a clause in such a will. | The real property left in such a will. | Design, devising.

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