heir. Of these refinements,
however, we disapproved, and have consequently enacted generally
that bequests, even though given, revoked, or transferred in order to
penalize the heir, shall be treated exactly like other legacies, except
where the event on which the penal legacy is contingent is either
impossible, illegal, or immoral: for such testamentary dispositions as
these the opinion of my times will not permit.

TITLE XXI. OF THE ADEMPTION AND TRANSFERENCE OF LEGACIES

Legacies may be revoked either in a later clause of the will or by
codicils, and the revocation may be made either in words contrary
to those of the gift, as the gift thus 'I give and bequeath,' the
revocation thus 'I do not give and bequeath,' or in words not contrary,
that is to say, in any words whatsoever.

1 A legacy may also be transferred from one person to another, as thus:
'I give and bequeath to Seius the slave Stichus whom I. bequeathed to
Titius,' and this may be done either by a later clause of the will or by
codicils; the result being that the legacy is taken away from Titius and
simultaneously given to Seius.

TITLE XXII. OF THE LEX FALCIDIA

We have finally to consider the lex Falcidia, the most recent enactment
limiting the amount which can be given in legacies. The statute of the
Twelve Tables had conferred complete liberty of bequest on testators, by
which they were enabled to give away their whole patrimony in legacies,
that statute having enacted: 'let a man's testamentary disposition of
his property be regarded as valid.' This complete liberty of bequest,
however, it was thought proper to limit in the interest of testators
themselves, for intestacy was becoming common through the refusal of
instituted heirs to accept inheritances from which they received
little or no advantage at all. The lex Furia and the lex Voconia
were enactments designed to remedy the evil, but as both were found
inadequate to the purpose, the lex Falcidia was finally passed,
providing that no testator should be allowed to dispose of more than
three-quarters of his property in legacies, or in other words, that
whether there was a single heir instituted, or two or more, he or they
should always be entitled to at least a quarter of the inheritance.

1 If two heirs, say Titius and Seius, are instituted, and Titius's share
of the inheritance is either wholly exhausted in legacies specifically
charged thereon, or burdened beyond the limit fixed