LEGACY

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

LEGACYAuthored
The Law Mind • 1411 words
Definition
A gift of personal property made by a testator through a last will and testament. The term is most commonly applied to bequests of money or personal chattels, though usage has expanded in some jurisdictions and contexts to encompass dispositions affecting real property as well. In strict classical common-law terminology, "legacy" and "devise" are distinct: a legacy is a gift of personal property, while a devise is a gift of real property. Modern usage frequently collapses this distinction, and statutes in many states have extended or blurred the categories. Researchers should not assume the classical distinction holds in every jurisdiction or period.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Money or property bequeathed to someone in a will; something inherited from a predecessor or the past; preferential admissions treatment given to a descendant of an alumnus. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A gift of property by will, especially of money or personal property; also, figuratively, a legacy of dishonor or disease; historically, a commission or message entrusted by another (now obsolete in that sense). The ordinary language meaning of "legacy" has drifted far beyond its legal core. In everyday speech — and in journalism, policy discourse, and university admissions — the word now encompasses almost any inherited condition, influence, or advantage. In legal instruments and legal research, however, the term retains technical content: it refers specifically to testamentary disposition, carries rules about vesting, lapse, and abatement, and may determine which body of law governs the gift. Treating "legacy" as interchangeable with "inheritance" in a legal document or research context can introduce significant error.
Common Confusion
Legacy vs. Bequest vs. Devise: Historically, these three terms occupied distinct lanes. "Legacy" described gifts of personal property; "bequest" was often used synonymously with legacy (and Black's 2nd Ed. treats them as equivalent), though "bequest" sometimes carried a broader connotation; "devise" designated gifts of real property. Modern statutes, including the Uniform Probate Code, frequently use "devise" to cover both real and personal property, displacing the classical triad. Researchers working across time periods must identify which vocabulary regime a source is operating in. Legacy vs. Distribution: A legacy operates through a will; distribution of the intestate estate operates by statute in the absence of a valid will. These are legally and procedurally separate tracks.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES The historical dictionaries, particularly Black's 1st Ed. and Bouvier's, catalogued a rich taxonomy of legacy subtypes that still appear in older instruments and case law: Specific legacy: A gift of a particular, identified item — a named object, a described parcel of stock, an identified sum set apart from the rest of the estate. General legacy: A gift payable out of the general assets of the estate, not tied to a specific fund or item. A bequest of a sum of money without more is the paradigm case. Demonstrative legacy: A hybrid — a general legacy directed to be satisfied out of a particular fund or source. If the fund fails, a demonstrative legacy (unlike a specific legacy) is generally payable from general assets. Residuary legacy: A gift of what remains of the estate after debts, expenses, and other legacies are satisfied. Drafting errors here are among the most litigated issues in will construction. Lapsed legacy: A legacy that never vests because the legatee predeceases the testator or fails to survive to the vesting date. Anti-lapse statutes in most states alter the common-law result for certain relatives. Modal legacy: A bequest accompanied by directions specifying how the gift is to be applied for the legatee's benefit (e.g., "to A, to place him as an apprentice"). Cumulative legacy: Where a testator twice bequeaths a legacy to the same person, the question arises whether the legatee takes once or twice. The answer turns on the instrument's language and the applicable presumption — a recurring construction problem in historical probate records. Contingent vs. vested legacy: A vested legacy passes an immediate interest even if possession is deferred; a contingent legacy depends on a future uncertain event. Bouvier's notes the general policy preference for vesting over contingency when consistent with testamentary intent.
Why It Matters in Research
The legacy/devise distinction is a navigational hazard throughout pre-twentieth-century case law, treatises, and probate records. A researcher looking for rules governing gifts of real property who searches only under "legacy" may miss the controlling authorities, which would be indexed under "devise." The reverse is equally true. Before assuming a source uses "legacy" to mean any testamentary gift, check the date and jurisdiction. The subtypes matter for abatement research. When an estate is insufficient to satisfy all gifts, legacies abate in a defined order — specific legacies last, general legacies first — and the classification of a gift as specific, general, or demonstrative controls the outcome. Historical instruments that use "legacy" loosely may generate classification disputes that turn on extrinsic evidence. Vesting rules are a second trap. Whether a legacy is vested or contingent determines who takes if the legatee dies before distribution, whether creditors of the legatee can reach it, and whether it passes through the legatee's own estate. The historical dictionaries document a strong judicial presumption toward vesting, but that presumption applies only when the instrument is ambiguous — and different states calibrated the presumption differently. Anti-lapse statutes are now nearly universal but differ substantially in scope: which relatives qualify, whether the substitute gift is per stirpes, and whether the statute can be defeated by contrary language in the will. When researching lapsed legacy cases, the statute in force at the testator's death — not the date of the case — governs. The child en ventre sa mère doctrine noted in Bouvier's — treating an unborn child as a living child for purposes of receiving a legacy — is another historical complexity that surfaces in construction disputes over class gifts ("to my children living at my death"). Researchers dealing with such language need to check both the applicable presumption and any statutory modification.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are largely in agreement on the core definition: a legacy is a testamentary gift of personal property. Black's 1st Ed., Black's 2nd Ed., and Bouvier's all lead with this formulation. Bouvier's is the most expansive, noting that while the term is most commonly applied to money and chattels, it has sometimes been used to charge real estate — a flexibility that courts resisted but acknowledged. Where the dictionaries are most useful to researchers is in their subtype taxonomies. Black's 1st Ed. provides the clearest structured breakdown of specific, general, demonstrative, residuary, lapsed, modal, and cumulative legacies. Bouvier's adds the doctrinal gloss — the vesting presumption, the en ventre sa mère rule, the cumulative/repeated bequest problem — with supporting case references that, while dated, provide entry points into the historical case law. What the historical dictionaries largely miss is the statutory transformation of the twentieth century. The Uniform Probate Code's consolidation of "legacy" and "devise" into a single term, the expansion and standardization of anti-lapse statutes, and the treatment of non-probate assets (retirement accounts, POD designations, joint tenancy) that function economically like legacies but pass outside the will — none of this appears in sources compiled before those developments. Researchers using historical dictionaries for modern questions should treat them as background, not current law.
Jurisdictional Note
Most U.S. states have enacted some version of the Uniform Probate Code or have independently modernized their testamentary statutes, often using "devise" to cover both real and personal property regardless of the classical distinction. Louisiana, as a civil law jurisdiction, uses different terminology and doctrine entirely — the concept closest to "legacy" in Louisiana law is the "legacy" or "legatee" as defined under the Civil Code, but the surrounding rules on forced heirship and reserved portions differ markedly from common-law states.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
No Law Mind Encyclopedia entry directly addresses testamentary legacies or wills and estates doctrine. The matching entries — on pandemic-era unemployment programs and on Jacobson's constitutional legacy — use "legacy" in its colloquial sense and are not relevant to the legal term.
Related Terms
Bequest — Devise — Legatee — Devisee — Testator — Will — Intestacy — Abatement — Lapse — Anti-lapse statute — Residuary estate — Specific bequest — General bequest — Demonstrative bequest — Probate — Personal property — Real property — Vested interest — Contingent interest — Class gift — En ventre sa mère
LEGACYmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
A bequest or gift of personal property by last will and testament. The word "legacy" properly imports a gift of personal, as "devise" does a gift of real, proper- ty; but it may, by reference and construction, be descriptive of real estate. 1 Burrows, 263, 272; 3 Term, 716. Legacies are distinguished and designated, ac- cording to their nature, as follows: (1) A legacy of a particular thing, specified, and distinguished from all others of the same kind belonging to the testator, is specific. If such legacy fails, resort cannot be had to the other property of the testa- tor. (2) A legacy is demonstrative when the par- ticular fund or personal property is pointed out, from which it is to be taken or paid. If such fund or property fails, in whole or in part, resort may be had to the general assets, as in case of a general legacy. (3) An annuity is a bequest of certain specified sums periodically. If the fund or prop- erty out of which they are payable fails, resort may be had to the general assets, as in case of a general legacy. (4) A residuary legacy em- braces only that which remains after all the be- quests of the will are discharged. (5) All other legacies are general legacies. Civil Code Dak. A pulpit. Mon. Angl. 755.
LEGACYmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
a bequest of all the testator's "goods," or his "bank-stock." Lown. Leg. 84. 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 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 A., to put him an apprentice. Lown. Leg. 151. A pecuniary legacy is a bequest of a sum of money. It may or may not specify the fund from which it is to be drawn. It is not the less a pecuniary legacy if it comprises the specific pieces of money in a designated re- ceptacle, as a purse or chest. A residuary legacy is a bequest of all the testator's personal estate not otherwise effect- ually disposed of by his will. Lown. Leg. 10; Bac. Abr. "Legacies," I; 6 H. L. Cas. 217. A specific legacy is a gift of a particular portion of the testator's personal estate, spec- ified and distinguished from the rest; or a bequest of ear-marked money or of other ear- marked fungible substance, in mass, or of any non-fungible substance by description. A trust legacy is a bequest of personal property to trustees to be held upon trust; as to pay the annual income to a beneficiary for life.
LEGACYmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
A bequest or gift of personal property by last will and testament. Browne v. Cogswell, 5 Allen (Mass.) 557; Evans vy. Price, 118 Ill. 598, 8 N. E. 854; Probate Court v. Matthews, 6 Vt. 274; In re Karr, 2 How. Prac. N. S. (N. Y.) 400; Nye v. Grand Lodge, 9 Ind. App. 181, 36 N. E. 429; Ky. St. 1908, § 467. Synonyms. “Legacy” and “bequest” are equivalent terms. ut in strict common-law terminology “legacy” and “‘devise”’ do not mean the same thing and are not interchangeable, the former being restricted to testamentary gifts of personal property, while the latter is properly used only in relation to real estate. But by construction the word “legacy” may be so extended as to include realty or interests tbherein. when this is necessary to make a statute cover its intended subject-matter or to effectuate the puree of a testator as expressed in his will. ee In re Ross’s Estate. 140 Cal. 282, 78 Pac. 976; In re Karr, 2 How. Prac. N. 8. (N. Y.) 408; Bacon v. Bacon. 55 Vt. 247: Roth’s Anvpeal, 94 Pa. 191: Williams v. Me Comb, 38 N. C. 455; Lasher v. Lasher, 13 70T Barb. - ¥.) 110; In re Stuart’s Will, 115 Wis. 91 N. W. 688; Homes v. Mitchell. 6 N. C. 230, 5 Am. Dec. 527. Classification.—Absolute legacy. One given without condition and intended to vest immediately.—Additional legacy. One given to the same legatee in addition to (and not in lieu of) another legacy given before by the same wil] or in a codicil thereto.—Alternate legacy. One by which the testator gives one of two or more things without designating which.—Conditional legacy. One which is liable to take effect or to be defeated according to the occurrence or non-occurrence of some uncertain event. Harker y. Smith, 41 Ohio St, 238, 52 Am. Rep. 80; Markham vy. Hufford, 123 Mich. 505, 82 N. W. 222, 48 L. R. A. 580, 81 Am. St. Rep. 222.—Contingent legacy. A legacy given to a person at a future uncertain time, that may or may not arrive; as “at his age of twenty-one,” or “if” or “when he attains twenty-one.” 2 Bl. Comm. 513; 2 Steph. Comm. 259. A legacy made dependent upon some uncertain event. 1 Rop. Leg. 506. A legacy which has not vested. In re Engles’ Estate, 166 Pa. 280, 81 Atl. 76; Andrews Vv. Russell, 127 Ala. 195, 28 South, '763; Rubencane v. McKee, 6 Del. Ch. 40, Atl. 639.— Cumulative legacies. These are legacies so called to distinguish them from legacies which are merely repeated. In the construction of testamentary instruments, the question often arises whether, where a testator has twice bequeathed a legacy to the same person, the legatee is entitled to both, or only to one of them; in other words, whether the second legacy must be considered as a mere repetition of the first, or as cumulative, ¢ e., additional. In determining this question, the intention of the testator, if it appears on the face of the instrument, prevails. Wharton.—Demonstrative legacy. A bequest of a certain sum of money, with a direction that it shall be paid out of a particular fund. It differs from a specific legacy in this respect: that, if the fund out of which it is payable fails for any cause, it is nevertheless entitled to come on the estate as a general legacy. And it differs from a general legacy in this: that it does not abate fn that class, but in the class of specific legacies. Appeal of Armstrong, 63 Pa. 316; Kenaday v. Sinnott, 179 U. S. 606, 21 Sup. Ct.+233, 45 L. Ed. 339; Gilmer v. Gilmer. 42 Ala. 9; Glass v. Dunn, 17 Ohio St. 424; Crawford v. McCarthy. 1589 N. Y. 514, 54 N. E. 277; Roquet v. Eldridge, 118 Ind. 147, 20 N. E. 733. <A legacy of quantity is ordinarily a general legacy: but there are legacies of quantity in the nature of specific legacies, as of so much money, with reference to a particular fund for payment. This kind of legacy is called by the civilians a ‘demonstrative legacy,”’ and it is so far general and differs so much in effect from one properly specific that, if the fund be called in or fail, the legatee will not be deprived of his legacy, but be permitted to receive it out of the general assets; yet the legacy is so far specific that it will not be liable to abate with general legacies upon a deficiency of assets. Williams, Ex’rs, 1078.—General legacy. A pecuniary legacy, payable out of the general assets of a testator. 2 Bl. Comm. 512; Ward. Leg. 1, 16, One so given as not to amount ° to a bequest of a particular thing or particular money of the testator, distinguished from others of the same kind; one of quantity merely, not specific. Tifft v. Porter, 8 N. Y. Evans v. Hunter, 86 Iowa, 413, 53. N. W. 277, 17 L. . 308, 41 Am. St. Rep. 508; Kelly v. Richardson, 100 Ala. 584, 13 South. 785.—Indefinite legacy. One which passes property by a general or collective term, without enumeration of number or quantity; as, a bequest of “all” the tes tator’s “goods,” or his “bank stock.” Lown. Leg. 84.—Lapsed legacy. Where the legatee dies before the testator, or before the legacy is payable, the bequest is said to. lapse, as it then falls into the residuary fund of the estate.—Moodal legacy. <A bequest accompanied by directions as to the mode or manner in which it shall be applied for the legatee’s benefit, e. g., a legacy to A. to buy him a house or a commission in the army. See Lown. Leg. 151_—Pecuniary legacy. <A bequest of a sum of money, or of an annuity. It may or may not specify the fund from which it is to be drawn. It is not the less a pecuniary legacy if it comprises the specific pieces of money in a designated receptacle, as a purse or chest. See Humphrey v. Robinson, 52 Hun, 200, 5 N. Y. Supp. 164: Lang v. Ropke, 10 N. Y¥. Leg. Obs. 75: Mathis v. Mathis, 18 N. J. Law. 66.—Residuary legacy. <A bequest of all the testator’'s personal estate not otherwise effectually disposed of by his will; a bequest of “all the rest, residue, and remainder’’ of the personal property after payment of debts and satisfaction of the particular legacies. See In re Williams’ Estate, 112 Cal. 521, 44 Pac. 808, 53 Am. St. Rep. 224; Civ. Code Cal. 1903, § 1357, subd. 4.—Special legacy. A “speCific legacy (q. v.) is sometimes so called.— Specific legacy. A legacy or gift by will of a particular specified thing, as of a horse, a piece of furniture, a term of years, and the like. Morriss v. Garland, 78 Va. 222. In a strict sense, a legacy of a particular chattel, which is specified and distinguished from all other chattels of the testator of the same kind; as of o horse of a certain color. A legacy of a quantity of chattels described collectively; as a gift of all the testator’s pictures. Ward, Leg. 16-18. A legacy is general, where its amount or value is a charge upon the general assets in the hands of the executors, and where, if these are sufficient to meet all the provisions in the will, it must be satisfied; it is specific, ‘when it is limited to a particular thing, subject, or chose in action, so identified as to render the bequest inapplicable to any other; as the bequest of a horse, a picture, or jewel, or a debt due from a person named, and, in special cases, even of a sum of money. Langdon v. Astor, 83 Duer (N. Y.) 477, 543.—Trust legacy. A bequest of personal property to trustees to be held upon trust; as, to pay the annual income to a beneficiary for life.—Universal legacy. In the civil law. A testamentary disposition by which the testator gives to one or several persons the whole of the property which he leaves at his decease. Civ. Code La. 1900, art. 1606.—Legacy duty. A duty imposed in England upon personal property (other than leaseholds) devolving under any will or intestacy. Brown.
LEGACYn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A gift of property by will, esp. of money or personal property; a bequest. Also Fig.; as, a legacy of dishonor or disease. A business with which one is intrusted by another; a commission; - - obsolete, except in the phrases last legacy, dying legacy, and the like. My legacy and message wherefore I am sent into the world. Tyndale. He came and told his legacy. Chapman. Legacy duty, a tax paid to government on legacies. Wharton. -- Legacy hunter, one who flatters and courts any one for the sake of a legacy.
legacynoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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Money or property bequeathed to someone in a will. | Something inherited from a predecessor or the past. | The descendant of an alumnus, given preference in academic admissions.
legacyadj
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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Left over from the past; old and no longer current.

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