nor to a deceased person. If he bequeaths to both a living person and a deceased one, the living beneficiary receives one-half of the intended bequest. If he assigns his estate to his two sons and to a stranger, and the sons refuse the bequest, the stranger takes one-ninth of the estate. Should he set aside one thousand coins for a supererogatory pilgrimage, that sum is drawn from the permissible one-third and spent on one pilgrimage after another until it is exhausted.

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A bequest is valid even for property the testator cannot deliver—such as a runaway slave or a bird in flight—and for something that does not yet exist, like the future offspring of his slave woman or the yield of his trees, whether indefinitely or for a specified term; if nothing comes into existence, the bequest is void.

A bequest of a hunting dog (1) and the like, or of ritually impure oil, is likewise valid. The legatee is entitled to one-third of their value, even if the estate is large, unless the heirs authorize more (2).

A bequest couched in vague terms—“a slave,” “a sheep”—is also valid; the executor must provide whatever item the word covers in ordinary language. When the testator bequeaths one-third of his estate and later acquires additional property—even blood money (3)—that new property is included in the bequest. If he designates a specific item and it is lost or destroyed, the bequest lapses.

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When someone is granted, by bequest, the specified share of a particular heir, or an amount equivalent to that share (4), he receives a portion equal to that heir’s fraction, which is then added to the inheritance calculation (5).