Section on the Dispositions of the Sick

1. When a person’s ailment is not considered life-threatening—such as a toothache, an eye complaint, or a headache—every transaction he carries out is binding exactly as if he were in full health, even though he might eventually die from that illness.

2. If, however, the illness is feared to be fatal—such as birsām (internal inflammation), pleurisy1, acute heart pain, persistent vomiting, a severe nose-bleed, the onset of paralysis, the final stage of consumption, continuous fever, quartan fever, or anything that two upright Muslim physicians declare to be dangerous; likewise when plague has reached his town, or when a woman is overtaken by labour pains—then no gratuitous transfer to an heir is binding, nor any donation that exceeds one-third of the estate, unless the heirs ratify it, provided that he dies while in that illness2. Should he recover, he is deemed healthy, and his transactions are treated accordingly.

3. Anyone whose sickness becomes chronic—leprosy, consumption, or paralysis—yet has not confined him to his bed, may dispose of all his property; the converse also holds: once he is bedridden, the restrictions of a death-illness apply.

4. The one-third limit is calculated on the basis of the estate’s value at the moment of death. In bequests, earlier and later dispositions are treated on an equal footing; in inter vivos gifts, priority is given to the first, then the next, and the donor has no right to revoke them. A gift becomes effective once it is accepted during the donor’s lifetime, and ownership is established at that moment, whereas the rules for bequests are the opposite.

1 Footnote marker in the original text.
2 Footnote marker in the original text.