Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

I.ECGATUM. LEGATUM. 67,5
of the place which each guest occupied, is given could be left: Per Vindicationein, Per Damnnaunder TRIc.INIual. (Becker, Gallus, vol. i. p. 42, tionem, Sinendi modo, Per Praeceptionem.
&c.) [L. S.] A legatum per vindicationem was given in these
LECYTHUS (XiiKveos),asmallnarrow-mouthed words: "Hominem Stichum Do, Lego;" or the
vessel, the principal use of which was to hold oil, words might be with reference to the legatee,
for anointing after the bath, and in the palaestra. " Capito, Sumito, Sibi Habeto." A legatum per
It was sometimes of leather, but more often of vindicationem was so called with reference to the
earthen-ware. Numerous terra-cotta vessels of legal means by which the legatee asserted his right
this sort exist, of an oval shape, holding about a to the legacy against the heres or any possessor,
pint, generally painted a plain dark brown or black, which was by a vindicatio or an Actio in rem; for
but sometimes a bright colour, while a few ex- as soon as the Hereditatis aditio had taken place,
amples are adorned with beautifully executed paint- the legatee had the Quiritarian (exjmre Quiritisz n)
itgs. Most of them are the productions of the ownership of the legacy. The two schools raised
Athenian potteries. (Hom. Od. vi. 79; Krause, a question as to this, Whether under such circumGymn. u. Agon. vol. i. p. 189, and in Pauly's stances, the legatee obtained the Quiritarian ownerReal-Encyclophdie, s. v.) [P. S.] ship of the thing before he had consented to take
LEGA'TIO LI'BERA. [LEGATUS, p. 678, b.] it. The opinion of the Proculiani who contended
LEGA'TUM is defined (Dig. 30. s. 116) to be for such consent, was confirmed by a Constitution
" delibatio hereditatis qua testator ex eo quod uni- of Antonints Pius (Gaius, ii. 195). It was conversum heredis foret alicui quid collatum velit." sistent with the nature of the Per Vindicationem,
This singular succession presupposes a universal that those things only could be so given, in which
succession, for if there is no heres ex testamento the testator had Quiritarian ownership: and it was
or person loco heredis, there can be no legacy. A also necessary that he should have such ownerLegatum then is a part of the hereditas which a ship both at the time of making his will and at
testator gives out of it, from the heres (ab derede); the time of his death; otherwise the legacy was
that is, it is a gift to a person out of that whole void (inzutile), But there was an exception in
(etiversum) which is diminished to the heres by respect of things " quae pondere, numero, mensuch gift. Accordingly the phrase "' ab herede sura constant," as wine, oil, corn, and the prelegare " thus becomes intelligible. (Dig. 30. cious metals in the form of coin ( pecunica numes. 116; "66 ei testamento legat grandem pecuniamn a rata), in regard to which it was sufficient if the
filio," Cic. pro Cluenzt. 12.) A legatee could not testator had the Quiritarian ownership at the
be charged with the payment of a legacy out of time of his death. By a senatusconsultum of the
what was given to him, a rule of law which was time of Nero, it was enacted that if a testator left
thus expressed, " A legatario legari non potest." a thing as a legacy, which had never been his, the
A legatum was something given according to the legacy should be equally good as if it had been
Jus Civile, and therefore could only be given in left in the form most advantageous to the legatee
civilia verba, and in Latin. [TESTAMENTUM.] (optielO ju'e), which form was the Legatum per
The word " Legatum," from the verb lego, con- damnationem. But if a testator gave a thing of his
tains the same element as Lex. Lego has the own by a testament, which he afterwards alienated,
sense of appointing or disposing of a matter, as in it was the best opinion that the legacy was inutile
the phrase "legatum negotium " (Plaut. Cas. i. 1. by the Jus Civile, and that the Senatusconsultum
12); and it is used in the Twelve Tables to ex- did not make it good. If the same thing was
press generally a testator's disposition of his pro- given to more than one person either jointly (conperty (uti legassit, &c.). Ulpian accordingly junctim) so as to make them collegatarii, or seexplains the word Legatum by referring to its verally (disjucltim), each took an equal share. A
etymology, and likening a Legatum to a Lex pro- legatlum was given coejunctinz thus: "Titio et Seio
perly so called. " A Legatum," he says, " is that hominem Stichum do, lego;" disjtnctim. thus:
which is left by a testament, lapis modo, that is, " Titio hominem Stichum do, lego; Seio eundem
ibnperative; for those things which are left pre- hominem do, lego." If one collegatarius failed to
cativo mnodo, are called Fideicommissa." (Frag. take, his portion went to the others. In the case
tit. 24.) A legatee was named letgatarius; those of a conditional legacy left per vindicationem, the
to whom a thing was given jointly (cofjzlncti ) schools were divided in opinion: the Sabiniani
were collegatarii. A legacy which was legally said that it was the property of the heres during
valid or good, was leatuzn uttile; a void legacy was the pendency of the condition; the Proculiani said
ineutile. A legacy which was given absolutely or that it was "res nullius."
unconditionally, was said to be given pure; one The form of the Per damnationerm was this:
which was given conditionally ryas said to be given Heres mens Stichum servum meum dare damnas
sulb cozclitione. The expression pusller legateit, an esto; but the word Dato was equally effective. A
unconditional legacy, also occurs. (Dig. 36. tit. 2. thing which belonged to another (alicsza res) could
s. 5.) be thus left, and the heres was bound to procure
Gails apologizes for treating of Legta in that the thing for the legatee or to pay him the value
part of his Institutional work in which he has of it. A thing not in existence at the date of the
placed them. In the first ninety-six chapters of his will might be left by this form, as the future prosecond book he treats of the acquisition of property duce of a female slave (azscilla). The legatee did
in Res singula", to which class legacies belong. not acquire the Quiritarian ownership of the legacy
But as the matter of legacies is not intelligible by virtue of the hereditatis aditio: the thing still
without reference to the matter of hereditas or remained the property of the heres, but the effect
universal succession, he places the law of legacies of the legatuni was to establish an obligatio be(laccc jutris nateria) immediately after that of tween the heres and the legatee, who could sue
hereditas. for it by an Actio in personam. If it was a thing
There were four Civil forms in which a legacy Mancipi, the legatee could only acquire the Quliri.
xx 2