LEG 
447 
LEG 
ftamp is from il. up to 10I. per cent, in Great Britain, 
(and from ios. to 5I. per cent, in Ireland,) according to 
the propinquity or diftance of relationffiip between the de- 
vifor and legatee. 
If a legacy is devifed, and no certain time of payment, 
and the legatee is an infant, he (hall have intereft for the 
legacy from the expiration of one year after the teftator’s 
death; for fo long the executor (hall have, that he may 
fee whether there are any debts; and no laches (hall be 
imputed to the infant; but, if the legatee be of full age, 
he (hall have no intereft but from the time of the demand 
of his legacy. Where a legacy is payable at a day cer¬ 
tain, it tauft be paid with intereft from that day. 
Legacies being gratuities, and no duties, aCtion will not 
lie at law for the recovery of a legacy, but remedy is to 
be had in the chancery or fpiritual court; but, if fecurity 
is given by bond to pay a legacy, in fuch cafe an aftion 
at law is the proper remedy; by giving the bond, the le¬ 
gacy is, as it were, extinfi, and becomes a debt at com¬ 
mon law, and the legatee can never afterwards fue for it 
in the fpiritual court. Alfo, an action at law will lie 
againft an executor to recover a fpeciftc chattel bequeathed, 
after his affent to the bequeft. 
Where a teftator gives his debtee a legacy greater than 
his debt, it (hall be taken in fatisfaition for it; but, as a 
legacy is a gift, fometimes the legatee has been decreed 
both. If a greater legacy is given by a codicil to the 
fame perfon that was a legatee in the will, it (hall not be 
a fatisfaCtion unlefs fo exprefted, and a bequeft of the fame 
fum by the debtor to the creditor (hall be applied in 1'atis- 
facfion of the debt. Yet, where there are affets, and the 
teftator intended both, it may be as good equity to con- 
ftrue him both juft and kind. If a legacy be lefs than 
the debt, it was never held to go in fatisfaftion; fo if the 
legacy were upon condition, or upon a contingency ; for 
the will is intended for the legatee’s benefit; and there¬ 
fore it could not be fuppofed that the teftator would give 
him an uncertain recompenfe in fatisfacftion of a certain 
demand. So where the legacy is not equally beneficial 
■with the debt in fome one particular, although it may be 
more fo in another, as in time of payment. So if the 
thing were of a different nature, as land, it (liould not go 
in fatisfaftion of money, unlefs there was a defeat of a fi¬ 
lets. So if the debt was contracted after the legacy given ; 
as the teftator could not have it in contemplation to fa- 
tisfy a debt not then in being. So if the debt was upon an 
open or running account,'fo that it might not be known 
to the teftator whether he owed any money to the legatee 
or not. Cafes of this nature therefore depend upon cir- 
cumftances; and, where a legacy has been decreed to go in 
fatisfaftion of a debt, it muft be grounded upon fome evi¬ 
dence ; for the intention of the party is to be the rule. 
LE'GAL, adj. [legal, Fr. leges, Lat. ] Done or conceived 
according to law.—Whatfoever was before Richard I. was 
before time of memory ; and what is fince, is, in a legal 
fenfe, within the time of memory. Hale. —Lawful ; not 
contrary to law.—Aftigning to every thing capable of 
ownerfbip a legal and determinate owner. Blackfone. —Ac¬ 
cording to the law of the old difpenlation : 
His merits 
To fave them, not their own, though legal works. Milton. 
LEGALITY, f. Lawfulnefs. 
To LE'GALIZE, v. a. To authorize; to make lawful. 
■—If any thing can legalize revenge, it (liould be injury 
from an extremely-obliged perfon ; but revenge is fo ab- 
iolutely the peculiar of Heaven, that no confideration can 
impower even the belt men to affume the execution of 
it. South i 
LE'GALLY, adv. Lawfully ; according to law.—A 
prince may not, much lefs may inferior judges, deny juf- 
tice, when it is legally and competently demanded. Taylor, 
LE'G ALNESS, f. The fame as Legality. 
LEGA'NES, a town of Spain, in New Caftile 5 five miles 
south-weft ot Madrid. 
LEGAN'TINET See Legating. 
LEG'ATAR Y,/. [ legataire , Fr. from legatum, Lat.] 
One who has a legacy left; a legatee.—An executor (hall 1 
exhibit a true inventory of goods, taken in the prefence 
of fit perfons, as creditors and legataries are, unto the or¬ 
dinary. Ayliffe. 
LEG'ATE, f. [leg a tvs, from legare, delegare, Lat. to 
fend or delegate.] A deputy; an ambaffador : 
The legates from th’ AEtolian prince return : 
Sad news they bring, that, after all the coft 
And care employ’d, their embaffy is loft. Dryden. 
A kind of fpiritual ambaffador from the pope; a com- 
miffioner deputed by the pope for ecclefiaftical affairs.— 
Upon the legate's fummons, he fubmitted himfelf to an' 
examination, and appeared before him. Atterbury. 
Look where the holy legate comes apace, 
To give us warrant from the hand of Heav’n. Shakefpeare . 
There are three kinds of legates, viz. legates a latere 
legates de latere, and legates bv office, or legati vati. Of 
thefe the molt confiderable are the legates a latere, being 
fuch as the pope commiffions to take his place in coun¬ 
cils; and fo called, becaule he never gives this office to 
any but his favourites and confidants, who are always <i~ 
latere, at his fide. A legate a latere has the power of con¬ 
ferring benefices without a mandate ; of legitimating baf- 
tards to hold offices; and has a crofs carried before him, 
as the enfign of his authority.* The legates de latere are 
not cardinals, but yet are entrufted with apoftolical lega¬ 
tion. Legates by office are thofe who have not any particu¬ 
lar legation given them; but who become legates by vir¬ 
tue of their dignity and rank in the church ; fuch are the 
archbilhops of Rheims and Arles; but the authority off 
thefe legates is much inferior to that of the legates a latere. 
The power of a legate is fometimes given without the 
title. Some of the nuncios are inverted with it. It was 
one of the ecclefiaftical privileges of England from the 
Norman conqueft, that no foreign legate (liould be ob¬ 
truded upon the Engliffi, unlefs the king (liould defire it 
upon fome extraordinary emergency, as when a cafe was ■ 
too difficult for the Engliffi prelates to determine. 
Court of the Legate was a court obtained by cardinal 
Wolfey of pope Leo X. in the ninth year of Henry VIII. 
wherein he, as legate of the pope, had power to prove 
wills, and difpenfe with offences againft the fpiritual laws. 
Sec. It was but of ffiort continuance. 
LEGATE'E, /. [from legatum, Lat ] One who has a 
legacy left him.—My will is, if any of the above-named 
legatees (liould die before me, that then the refpeftive le¬ 
gacies (hall revert to myfelf. Swift. 
If he chance to ’fcape this- difinal bout. 
The former legatees are blotted out. Dryden. 
LEG'ATESHIP,/. The office of a legate. 
LEG'ATINE, adj. [from legate.'] Made by a legate.—- 
When any one is abfolved from excommunication, it is 
provided by a legatine conftitution, that (ome one (hall 
publiffi fuch abfolution. Aylijfe. —Belonging to a legate 
of the Roman fee : 
All thofe you have done of late, 
By your power legatine within this kingdom. 
Fall in the compafs of a praemunire. Shakefpeare. 
LEGA'TION, f. [legatio, Lat.] Deputation ; commifi- 
fion ; embafly.—After a legation ad res repetendas, and a 
refufal, and a denunciation or indiftion of a war, the war 
is no more confined to the place of the quarrel, but is left 
at large. Bacon. —In attiring, the duke had a fine and un¬ 
affected politenefs, and upon occafion coftly, as in his le¬ 
gations. Wottcm. 
LEGA'TOR, f. [from lego, Lat.] One who makes a 
will, and leaves legacies : 
Suppofe debate 
Betwixt pretenders to a fair eftate, 
Bequeath’d by fome legator's laft intent. Dryden. 
LEGA'TUS a , 
