Accumulative in United Kingdom

Meaning of Accumulative

The following is an old definition of Accumulative [1]: Heaping up; additional; ‘ cumulative, see, in this resource, the term At common law, the utmost length of time allowed for the contingency of an executory devise to happen in was that of a life or lives in being and one-and- twenty years afterward. Under this rule, one Peter Thelluson, in 1796, devised his fortune to trustees, for accumulation during the lives of three sons and of their sons, and during the life of the survivor. At the death of this last survivor the fund was to he divided into three shares – one share for the eldest male lineal descendant of each of his three sons; upon failure of such descendant, the share to go to the descendants of the other sons. The testator left three sons and four grandsons living, and twin sons horn soon after his death. It was foimd that at the death of these nine persons the fund would exceed nineteen million pounds; and, upon the supposition of only one person to take and a majority of ten years, that the sum would exceed thirty -two million pounds. The will was upheld, as within the limits of the common-law riile, by the court of chancery in 1798, and by the House of Lords in 1805. By statute of 39 & 40 Geo. III (1799), c. 98, known as the Thellusson Act or the Statute of Accumulations, accumulation was forbidden beyond the life of the grantor (or testator), twenty-one years fi-om his death, and during the minority of any person living or in ventre sa mere at his death, or during the minority of any person who, under deed or will, would, if of full age, be entitled to the income. And such also is the law in most of the States; so that directions for accumulation beyond those limitations are void. See Alienatio, Rei; Devise, Executory; Perpetuity.

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Notes and References

1. Concept of Accumulative provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)