m. Law, § 737. The estate of a person deceased, where the owner left no heirs or legatee to take it, called also “caduca;" an escheated estate. Cod. 10, 10, 1; 4 Kent, Comm. . The term has also been used in English law to signify an estate in abeyance; that is, after the ancestor’s death, and before assumption of heir. Co. Litt. 8426. An inheritance without legal owner, and therefore open to the first occupant. Bl. Comm. 259. —Hereditas legitima. A succession or inheritance devolving by operation of law (intestate succession) rather than by the will of the decedent. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 654. —Hsereditas luctuosa. A sad or mournful inheritance or succession; as that of a parent to the estate of a child, which was regarded as disturbing the natural order of mortality. (turbato ordine mortalitatis.) Cod. 6. 25, 9; 4 Kent, Comm. 807.—Hsereditas testamentaria. Testamentary inheritance, that is, succession to an estate under and according to the last will and testament of the decedent. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 654.