Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

699

LEGACY

LEGAL INCAPACITY

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 appientice. 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. LEGACY DUTY. A duty imposed in England upon personal property (other than leaseholds) devolving under any will or in testacy. Brown. LEGAL. 1. Conforming to the law; ac cording to law; required or permitted by law; not forbidden or discountenanced by law; good and effectual in law. 2. Proper or sufficient to be recognized by the law; cognizable in the courts; competent or adequate to fulfill the requirements of the law. 3. Cognizable in courts of law, as distin guished from courts of equity; construed or governed by the rules and principles of law, in contradistinction to rules of equity. 4. Posited by the courts as the inference or imputation of the law, as a matter of con struction, rather than established by actual proof; e. g., legal malice. See LAWFUL. LEGAL ASSETS. That portion of the assets of a deceased party which by law is directly liable, in the hands of his executor or administrator, to the payment of debts and legacies. 1 Story, Eq. Jur. § 551. Such as

sets as can be reached in the hands of an ex ecutor or administrator, by a suit at law against him. LEGAL CONSIDERATION. Onerec ognized or permitted by the law as valid and lawful; as distinguished from such as are illegal or immoral. LEGAL CRUELTY. Such as will war rant the granting of a divorce to the injured party; as distinguished from such kinds or degrees of cruelty as do not, under the stat utes and decisions, amount to sufficient cause for a decree. Legal cruelty may be defined to be such conduct/ on the part of the husband as will endanger the life, limb, or health of the wife, or create a reason able apprehension of bodily hurt; such acts as ren der cohabitation unsafe, or are likely to be attend* ed with injury to the person or to the health of the wife. 36 Ga. 286. LEGAL DEBTS. Those that are re coverable in a court of common law, as debt on a bill of exchange, a bond, or a simple con tract. LEGAL DEFENSE. 1. Adefense which is complete and adequate in point of law. 2. A defense which may be set up in a court of law; as distinguished from an "equitable defense," which is cognizable only in a court of equity or court possessing equitable powers. LEGAL DISCRETION. The discretion to be exercised by a judge in interpreting the law, or in applying equitable principles to the determination of causes or the granting of relief. LEGAL ESTATE. That kind of estate which is properly cognizable in the courts of common law, though noticed, also, in the courts of equity. 1 Steph. Cormn. 217. LEGAL HEIRS. This phrase, used in a devise or a policy of life insurance, will be held to mean those to whom the law would give the person's property, real and personal, if he should die intestate. 88111.251; (Tex.) 8 S. W. Rep. 203. LEGAL HOLIDAY. A day designated by law as exempt from judicial proceedings, service of process, demand and protest of commercial paper, etc. LEGAL INCAPACITY. This expres sion implies that the person in view has the right vested in him, but is prevented by some impediment from exercising it; as in the case of minors, femes covert, lunatics, etc

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