Definition
In Scots law, the moveable estate of a deceased person that passes to the nearest of kin under the administration of an executor. Executry encompasses the personal property of the deceased — as distinct from heritable (real) property — and forms the subject matter of the executor's distribution function under Scots succession law.
The term operates within a legal system that draws a fundamental distinction between heritable estate (land and rights attached to land, governed by different succession rules) and moveable estate. Executry is the moveable side of that divide. At death, the executor's authority and responsibility attaches to the executry; the distribution of heritable estate follows separate legal channels.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "The role of executor."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not listed — the term does not appear in Webster's 1913, reflecting its confinement to Scots legal usage.
The common definition captures only the office or function — the executor's role — while the legal term names the estate itself: the corpus of moveable property subject to that role. A researcher encountering "executry" in a Scottish legal document should understand it as referring to what the executor administers, not to the act or office of administering it.
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Why It Matters in Research
Executry is a term of art specific to Scots law and will not appear in English law sources except as an explanatory gloss on Scottish practice. Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus should note several navigational points.
First, jurisdiction is everything here. Any source using "executry" as a live legal term is almost certainly operating within Scots law. English and American succession materials do not use the term, and its appearance in a document is itself a jurisdictional signal.
Second, the heritable/moveable distinction that defines executry's scope shifted significantly over time. Under older Scots law, the distinction was rigid and consequential — heritable estate descended to heirs under different rules, while moveables went through executry. Statutory reforms, particularly through the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964, substantially unified succession rules for heritable and moveable property. Historical sources predating that reform will describe a sharper and more consequential divide than modern practice reflects. Bell's Dictionary, cited by all three historical dictionaries here, reflects pre-reform Scots law.
Third, "nearest of kin" (the class of distributees under executry) carries a specific technical meaning in Scots law that does not map cleanly onto English "next of kin." Researchers should not assume equivalence when translating concepts across jurisdictions.
Fourth, the term appears in Law Mind sources primarily through historical dictionary entries synthesizing Bell's Dictionary. Researchers seeking depth on executry should treat these entries as starting points and move directly to Scots institutional writers — Erskine, Bell, and Stair — for fuller treatment.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's, Bouvier's, and Burrill's are in precise agreement: all three define executry as the moveable estate of a person dying, passing to the nearest of kin, and all three attribute the definition to Bell's Dictionary. The convergence is unsurprising — all three are drawing from the same source and treating Scots law as foreign law requiring a brief explanatory entry rather than extended analysis.
None of the three historical dictionaries engages with the internal mechanics of executry — the confirmation of executors, the prior rights and legal rights that might affect distribution, or the distinction between executry proper and legitim (the children's portion). This is a significant gap. A researcher relying solely on these entries would have the broadest outline but would miss the doctrinal complexity that governs how executry is actually administered and divided.
Bouvier's and Burrill's entries are essentially identical in substance. Black's adds a Latin maxim (Exempla illustrant non restringunt legem) as a separate entry immediately following, reflecting a dictionary formatting artifact rather than any connection to executry.
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Jurisdictional Note
Executry is a Scots law term without direct equivalents in English or American law. The closest functional analog in English law is the personal estate administered by a personal representative, but the doctrinal frameworks differ. Researchers applying executry concepts outside Scotland should do so with caution and explicit acknowledgment of jurisdictional difference.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Scots Law of Succession
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Moveable Property
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Executor (for the office that administers the executry)
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