Universal Fideikommiss
The Universal Fideikommiss is a legacy that includes a whole ("universal") inheritance , so that the heir that is burdened with it must transfer the entire inheritance to the intended ("committere") when a certain event occurs. In this case, the legatee is called Universal Fideikommissar. In German inheritance law one speaks of a universal legacy . This is the case if the testator donates the entire inheritance to a third party by means of a legacy and has made it clear that the interpretation rule of § 2087 BGB should not apply.
In Roman law , the universal entrant was originally a death disposition, the fulfillment of which depended solely on the conscience of the heir ("fidei") and could not be enforced.
Since the Romans had the principle of "semel heres semper heres" (once inheritance, always inheritance), they did not know the right of pre- and post-inheritance . However, since there was already a practical need for the appointment of several heirs (preliminary inheritance on a temporary basis and then final subsequent inheritance), the universal entreprise was used to achieve a corresponding result.
