A codicil is a testamentary or supplementary document similar but not necessarily identical to a

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

. The purpose of a codicil can differ across

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

s. It may serve to amend, rather than replace, a previously executed will, serve as an alternative or replacement to a will, or in some instances have no recognized distinction between it and a will.

Etymology

The term is derived from the Latin term meaning a 'short additional

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...

' or a ' small writing tablet'. It is the diminutive form of

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

Origins

The concept of a testamentary document as similar to but distinct from a will originated in

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

. In the pre-classical period, a testator was required to nominate an heir in order for his will to be valid (). Failure to nominate an heir or failure to observe the proper formalities for nomination of an heir resulted in an estate divided pursuant to the rules of intestacy. However, a testator was also able to institute a ''

fideicommissum A is a type of bequest in which the beneficiary is encumbered to convey parts of the decedent's estate to someone else. For example, if a father leaves the family house to his firstborn, on condition that they will bequeath it to their first child ...

'', a more flexible and less formal indication of the testator's intent, which could have the effect of transferring part or all of his estate after death, although with fewer rights to the beneficiary than those of a nominated heir. A (diminutive of ''

'') was a written

document A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes ...

subject to fewer formal requirements than a will () that, in its initial use, could supplement or amend an existing will, provided that the codicil was specified, i. e. confirmed, in the will. However, if the will did not confirm the codicil, all provisions in the codicil were considered . Furthermore, a will that did not nominate an heir could be considered a codicil. Thus, when a testator did not nominate an heir, his will would be considered a codicil and his bequests would become . This "opened a way to save certain dispositions in a will which was invalid due to some formal or substantive defect": if a testator failed or chose not to nominate an heir, an estate would pass to heirs pursuant to rules of intestacy, but those heirs would be bound by the ''fideicommissa'' in the codicil. By the time of the '' Codex Justinianus'', the formal requirements for wills had relaxed, while requirements for codicils had become more stringent. "There was thus little difference between the formalities for a will and for a codicil", and an invalid will, when for example, no heir had been nominated, could often be validated as a codicil. It is acknowledged that classical Roman inheritance law was "highly complicated and to a large extent perplexedly entangled" (Fritz Schulz).

Modern development

The codicil remained an entity distinct from a will (testament) to varying degrees throughout the Roman-influenced legal world. The concept of ''heredis institutio'' was part of the ''

jus commune or is Latin for "common law" in certain jurisdictions. It is often used by Civil law (legal system), civil law jurists to refer to those aspects of the civil law system's invariant legal principles, sometimes called "the law of the land" in Eng ...

'' until modern times. In the United States, United Kingdom and other British

commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

jurisdictions, a codicil is a document that changes an existing will. Amendments made by a codicil may alter, explain, add to, subtract from, or confirm – and otherwise amend a will in any other way, minor or major, short of complete revocation. It is subject to the same formal requirements as a will. In these jurisdictions it is typically advisable for a codicil to only be used for straightforward or minor changes given the risks of a codicil making major amendments not being found or considered by an executor.

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{Authority control Wills and trusts Legal documents