DEVISE - A gift in a will. A disposition
of real property by a person's last will and testament,
to take effect after the testator's death.
Its form is immaterial, provided the instrument is
to take effect after the death of the party; and a
paper in the form of an indenture, which is to have
that effect, is considered as a devise.
The term devise, properly and technically, applies
only to real estate, so the object of the devise must
therefore be that kind of property. Devise is also
sometimes improperly applied to a bequest or legacy.
The nature of a devise, when lands are devisable,
is that one can devise that his lands shall be sold
by executors. A devise in such form has always been
in use. So a man may have frank tenement of him who
had nothing, in the same manner as one may have fire
from a flint, and yet there is no fire in the flint.
But it is to perform the last will of the devisor.
DEVISEE - A person to whom a devise
has been made.
All persons who are in rerum natura, and even embryos,
may be devisees, unless excepted by some positive
law. In general, he who can acquire property by his
labor and industry, may receive a devise.
Many states' living will laws prevent those who have
a financial interest in the estate of the declarant
(devisees) from being witnesses to a living will.
