Portion
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Has a somewhat technical use, to signify that part of a person's estate which is given or bequeathed to a child. It seems to imply that there are several children or beneficiaries, and that their shares are governed in amount by natural or equitable considerations, not by the, arbitrary gift of the parent or testator. Portion is especially applied to payments made to younger children out of the funds comprised in their parents' marriage settlement, and in pursuance of the trusts thereof. Mozley^ W. Portion disponible. In French law, that part of a man's,estate which he may freely give, by act or will. A parent leaving one legitimate child may dispose of one-half only of his property; one leaving two, one-third only; and one leaving three or more, one-fourth only; and it matters not whether the disposition is inter vivos or by will.
Portioner.
When a parsonage is served by two, or sometimes three, ministers, alternately, the ministers are termed portioners, portion of the tithes or profits of the living.