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Simple English definitions for legal terms
legatum
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A quick definition of legatum:
Legatum is a Latin word that means a special gift left by a person who has died. It can be money, property, or something else that the person wants to give to someone else. The person who receives the gift is called a legatee. Legatum can also be a gift left to the church, especially for tithes that were not paid while the person was alive. There are different types of legatum, such as a legacy of debt, dowry, or a certain amount of something. The legatee does not have any duties, only benefits. In Roman law, the legatee could choose which item to receive if there were several items to choose from. A universal legacy is a gift of the entire estate.
A more thorough explanation:
LEGATUM
Legatum (pronounced luh-gay-tuhm) is a Latin term that means a special bequest or gift left by a deceased person to be paid from the estate by the heir. Unlike an heir, a legatee acquires a benefit and no duties attached.
There are different types of legatum:
- Legatum debiti: A legacy to the decedent's creditor of what the decedent owes.
- Legatum dotis: A legacy of dowry.
- Legatum generis: A legacy of a subject of a general class.
- Legatum liberationis: A legacy by which a testator released the indebted legatee from a debt.
- Legatum nominis: A legacy by which a testator willed to the legatee a debt owed to the testator from a third party.
- Legatum optionis: A legacy of one of several items that the designated beneficiary chooses from the testator's estate.
- Legatum peculii: A legacy of a peculium to a free person or to a manumitted slave.
- Legatum quantitatis: A general legacy of a certain amount.
- Legatum rei alienae: A legacy of an item that belongs to a third party.
- Legatum universitatis: A legacy of the testator's entire estate.
For example, a testator might make a gift of a horse without specifically naming which one of ten horses in the estate. This is an example of legatum generis. Another example is legatum dotis, where a husband might bequeath a dowry back to his wife, and the widow could receive her dowry immediately.