Chapter IV: Legacies

People generally understand quite well what is meant by a legacy in a will; but there is a popular meaning attached to the word, which differs from the strict legal meaning. Popularly, we suppose a legacy to be anything--property of any kind, whether real or personal--left to a person in a will; whereas, the strict legal meaning is, that it is a gift of money, or some particular thing, left to a person in a will. When real estate is given, we then term it a _devise_, in a legal point of view; but the word _bequest_ is a more general term, as it may designate either a legacy or a devise.

In this chapter, we shall treat of legacies: 1. _As to their Quality_; 2. _Vested or Contingent_; 3. _Conditional_; 4. _Payment_; and 5. _The Person who may take_.