In Roman law. A law on the subject of testamentary disposi-tion, enacted by the people in the year of Rome 714, on the proposition of the tribune Falcidlus. By this law, the testator’s right to burden his estate with legacies was sub-jected to an important restriction. It pre-scribed that no one could bequeath more than three-fourths of his property in legacies, and that the heir should have at least one-fourth of the estate, and that, should the testator violate this prescript, the heir may have the right to make a proportional deduction from each legatee, so far as necessary. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 771; Inst. 2, 22
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
