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Legs à titre de propre

English translation: inheritance in his/her own right

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Legs à titre de propre
English translation:inheritance in his/her own right

22:19 Feb 2, 2022
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2022-02-06 13:54:18 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


French to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law (general)
French term or phrase: Legs à titre de propre
This is the heading of an article in a will from Canada. The full text of the article is:

"Art.-X LEGS À TITRE DE PROPRE
Tous les biens présentement légués ainsi que les fruits et revenus en provenant seront propres à chacun de mes légataires."

My best guess is that it is saying that once the legatees have received the property bequeathed to them, they are considered the owner of it (?) but I'm not sure of the correct legal term.
Heather Langdale
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:39
inheritance in his/her own right
Explanation:
I don't know if there's an "official" legal term, and though "legs" refers in principle to the "inheritance", to me what makes more sense in proper English would be "Inheritor in his own right"
Selected response from:

Timothy Rake
United States
Local time: 06:39
Grading comment
Thank you very much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5Bequest as separate property [or "private property"]
Eliza Hall
3inheritance in his/her own right
Timothy Rake


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


58 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Legs à titre propre
inheritance in his/her own right


Explanation:
I don't know if there's an "official" legal term, and though "legs" refers in principle to the "inheritance", to me what makes more sense in proper English would be "Inheritor in his own right"

Timothy Rake
United States
Local time: 06:39
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 52
Grading comment
Thank you very much!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you very much!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Adrian MM.: gift (legacy of money or devise of land) > so mes légataires / my beneficiaries. Query: the passage quoted refers to 'à titre de propre(s)' vs. de communs.
35 mins
disagree  Eliza Hall: FR legs = EN bequest. And my research indicates that the distinction made by "à titre de propre" is between the heir's own separate property and property co-owned by the heir and their spouse.
19 hrs
neutral  Daryo: as opposed to ... ?? a substitute heir? an indirect heir? I get what "being a celebrity in your own right" or having some aristocratic title "in your own right" would mean, but how do you inherit anything in any other way than "in your own right"??
1 day 17 hrs
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20 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Legs à titre propre
Bequest as separate property [or "private property"]


Explanation:
This is from a will in Canada, so we're talking about Quebec civil law. In Quebec, the default marital property regime is the société d'acquêts, which categorizes certain types of property as aqcuêts (community/marital property) or propre separate property (i.e. owned by only one of the spouses): https://educaloi.qc.ca/capsules/la-societe-dacquets/

And, KEY POINT: "En cas de doute sur la qualification d'un bien à titre de propre ou d'acquêt, ce dernier constituera un acquêt."
https://www.fiscalistes.com/Bibliotheque/concepts/regimes-ma...

So the point of phrasing things this way in the will is that it makes absolutely clear that the property being left to heirs, as well as the "fruits and revenues" of that property, will be the separate property of each heir, and NOT marital property owned by that heir and whoever they happen to be married to at the time the testator/testatrix dies.

Some translations of Canadian websites translate "propre" in this sense as "private" (i.e. the distinction is between "community," i.e. marital, and "private" property), so that's apparently a completely legitimate choice, but the term "separate property" is much more widespread and understood throughout the English-speaking world, so that's what I would use.

Background:

À titre de: en qualité de; in the capacity of; in their/its capacity as. À titre de is followed by the substantive, so this is "propre" as a noun:

"II. − Substantif
A. − Ce qui appartient exclusivement ou en particulier (à). Le propre de..." https://cnrtl.fr/definition/propre

In property law, this phrase comes up a lot to distinguish between marital property and the separate property of either spouse. For instance, "Il faut mettre en commun les biens acquis par le travail et l'esprit d'économie des époux, et réserver à titre de propres ceux qui forment leur fortune héréditaire." https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5442594g/texteBrut


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Note added at 20 hrs (2022-02-03 19:14:33 GMT)
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PS: So the translation of the term in the actual text of the will would be like so: "...seront propres à chacun de mes légataires" = "...will be the separate property of each of my heirs."

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Note added at 21 hrs (2022-02-03 19:19:12 GMT)
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PPS The title of this section of the will should be plural, sorry. Legs is invariable in FR, but logically in English the title should be plural: BEQUESTS AS SEPARATE PROPERTY.

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 09:39
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 145

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daryo: "personal property", as opposed to "joint property"? OK, got it - that would be a wrong "pair of opposites".
5 hrs
  -> Thanks. Re "personal," not in legalese :) "Personal property" = not real property (e.g. cars, jewelry, etc., as opposed to real estate). To distinguish property that's owned by spouse A but not spouse B we say "separate property."
disagree  Adrian MM.: bequest -like a legacy - is confined to goods, chattels and money. You ought to overcome your aversion and read my reference to *devises* of land.
17 hrs
  -> Technically, sure, but in practice "bequest" is used as the umbrella term. See "specific bequests" here: https://www.timinslaw.com/basic/4-ways-best-way-leave-proper...
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