Search Result for "presumptive heir":

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Presumptive \Pre*sump"tive\, a. [Cf. F. pr['e]somptif.] 1. Based on presumption or probability; grounded on probable evidence; probable; as, presumptive proof. [1913 Webster] 2. Presumptuous; arrogant. [R.] --Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster] Presumptive evidence (Law), that which is derived from circumstances which necessarily or usually attend a fact, as distinct from direct evidence or positive proof; indirect or circumstantial evidence. "Presumptive evidence of felony should be cautiously admitted." --Blackstone. The distinction, however, between direct and presumptive (or circumstantial) evidence is now generally abandoned; all evidence being now more or less direct and more or less presumptive. Presumptive heir. See Heir presumptive, under Heir. [1913 Webster]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PRESUMPTIVE HEIR. One who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would under the present circumstances of things be his heir, but whose right of inheritance may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born; as a brother, who is the presumptive heir, may be defeated by the birth of a child to the ancestor. 2 Bl. Com. 208.