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Specific legacy

Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

Black's Law Dictionary

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.

Mornss v. Garland, 78 Va. 222.

In a strict sense, a legacy of a particular chattel, which is specified and distinguished froin ali other chattels of the testator of the same kind ; as of a horse of a certain color. A legacy of a quantity of chattels described collectively ; as a gift of ali 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 j'ewel, or a debt due from a person named, and, in special cases, even of a sum of money.

Langdon v. Astor, 3 Duer (N. Y.) 477, 543.