The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sperate \Spe"rate\, a. [L. speratus, p. p. of sperare to hope.]
   Hoped for, or to be hoped for. [R.] --Bouvier.
   [1913 Webster]

Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

SPERATE. That of which there is hope.
     2. In the accounts of an executor and the inventory of the personal
assets, he should distinguish between those assets which are sperate, and
those which are desperate; he will be prima facie responsible for the
former, and discharged for the latter. 1 Chit. Pr. 520; 2 Williams Ex. 644;
Toll. Ex. 248. See Desperate.