FALCIDIAN LAW
\falsˈɪdi͡ən lˈɔː], \falsˈɪdiən lˈɔː], \f_a_l_s_ˈɪ_d_iə_n l_ˈɔː]\
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Civil law, plebiscitum. A statute or law enacted by the people, made during the reign of Augustus, on the proposition of Falcidius, who was a tribune in the year of Rome 714.
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Its principal provision gave power to fathers of families to bequeath three-fourths of their property, but deprived them of the power to give away the other fourth, which was to descend to the heir.
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The same rule, somewhat modified, has been adopted in Louisiana; "donations inter vivos or mortis causal" says the Civil Code, art. 1480, "cannot exceed two-thirds of the property of, the disposer, if he leaves at his decease a legitimate child; one-half, if he leaves two children; and one-third, if he leaves three, or a greater number."
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By the common law, the power of the father to give his property is unlimited. He may bequeath it to his children equally, to, one in preference to another, or to a stranger, in exclusion of the whole of them. Over his real estate, his wife has a right of dower, or a similar right given to her by act of assembly, in, perhaps, all the states.
By John Bouvier
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