ART. 654. Gifts which, in accordance with the provisions of article 636, may be void after computing the net value of the property of the donor at the time of his death must be reduced with regard to the excess, but this reduction shall not prevent them from being valid during the life of the donor, nor the donee from appropriating the fruits.

For the reduction of gifts the provisions of this chapter and of articles 820 and 821 of this code shall be observed.

ART. 655. The reduction of gifts can be demanded only by the persons who have a right to a legal portion or to an aliquot part of the estate and their heirs or legal representatives.

The persons included in the preceding paragraph can not renounce their right during the life of the donor, neither by an express statement nor by giving their consent to the gift.

The donees, the legatees who are not to receive an aliquot part, and the creditors of the deceased can not request the reduction or derive any benefit therefrom.

ART. 656. If there are two or more gifts, and all can not be covered by the disposable part of the estate, the latest ones shall either be canceled or reduced with regard to the excess.

TITLE III-SUCCESSION.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ART. 657. The rights to the succession of a person are transmitted from the moment of his death.

ART. 658. Succession is granted either by the will of the man as expressed in a will or, in its absence, by provision of law.

The first is called testamentary, the second legal succession.

It may also be bestowed partly by will of man and partly by provision of law.

ART. 659. The inheritance includes all the property, rights, and obligations of a person, which are not extinguished by his death.

ART. 660. An heir is a person succeeding under an universal title; and a legatee, one succeeding under a special title.

ART. 661. Heirs succeed the deceased in all his rights and obligations by the mere fact of his death.

CHAPTER FIRST.-Wills.

SECTION FIRST.-Capacity to depose by will.

ART. 662. All persons who are not expressly prohibited by law may make a will.

ART. 663. The following are disqualified to make wills:

1. Persons of either sex under 14 years of age.

2. Persons who permanently or temporarily are not of sound mind. ART. 664. A will made before mental alienation is valid.

ART. 665. Whenever a lunatic desires to make a will during a lucid interval, the notary shall appoint two physicians to examine him previously, and he shall not execute it unless the latter answer for the capacity of the testator, including their opinion in the will, which shall be subscribed by the physicians besides the witnesses.

ART. 666. In order to judge of the capacity of the testator, his condition at the time of the execution of the will only shall be taken into consideration.

SECTION SECOND.-Wills in general.

ART. 667. The act by which a person disposes of all his property or of a part of it, to take effect after his death, is called a will.

ART. 668. The testator may dispose of his property either under title of inheritance or under that of legacy.

In case of doubt, even if the testator has not actually used the word "heir," if his will is clear on this point, his disposition shall be valid as made under a title, either universal or of inheritance.

ART. 669. Two or more persons can not make a will conjointly or in the same instrument, either for their reciprocal benefit or for the benefit of a third person.

ART. 670. A will is absolutely a personal act. The making of it, either wholly or partially, can not be left to the discretion of a third person, nor can it be made through a trustee or agent.

Neither can there be left to the discretion of a third person the continuance of the appointment of heirs or legatees, nor the designation of the portions to which they are to succeed when they are nominally instituted.

ART. 671. The testator may intrust to a third person the distribution of the sums he may leave in general to specified classes, such as relatives, the poor, or charitable institutions, and also the designation of the persons or institutions to which such sums are to be applied.

ART. 672. Any provision relating to the institution of heirs, bequests, or legacies, made by the testator, referring to private memoranda or papers which after his death may appear in his domicile or outside thereof, shall be void if such memoranda or papers do not fulfill the requisites prescribed for holographic wills.

ART. 673. Á will executed under duress, deceit, or fraud, shall be void.

ART. 674. A person who, by deceit, fraud, or violence, prevents another person, of whom he is the intestate heir, from unrestrictedly executing his last will, shall be deprived of his right to the inheritance without prejudice to the criminal liability he may have incurred.

ART. 675. Every testamentary provision shall be understood in the literal meaning of its words, unless it clearly appears that the will of the testator was different. In case of doubt, that which appears most in accordance with the intention of the testator, according to the tenor of the same will, shall be observed.

A testator can not prohibit the contest of his will in the cases in which there exists nullity specified by law.

SECTION THIRD.-Form of wills.

ART. 676. Wills may be ordinary or special.

Ordinary wills may be holographic, open, or closed.

ART. 677. Military and maritime wills and those executed in foreign countries are considered special.

ART. 678. A will is called holographic when the testator writes it in his own hand in the form and with the requisites mentioned in article

ART. 679. A will is open whenever the testator expresses his last will in the presence of the persons who must authenticate the act, they being informed of its provisions.

ART. 680. A will is closed when the testator, without revealing his last will, declares that it is contained in the instrument which he presents to the persons who are to authenticate the act.

ART. 681. The following can not be witnesses to wills:

1. Women, with the exception of the provisions of article 701.

2. Males under age, with the same exception.

3. Persons who are not residents or domiciled in the place of the execution, with the exception of the cases excepted by law.

4. Blind persons and those totally deaf and dumb.

5. Persons who do not understand the language of the testator.

6. Persons of unsound mind.

7. Persons who have been condemned for the crimes of forgery of public or private instruments, for perjury, and those suffering the penalty of civil interdiction.

8. The clerks, amanuenses, servants, or relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of the notary who authenticates the will.

ART. 682. Neither can the heirs and legatees named in an open will, nor the relatives of the same within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity, be witnesses thereto.

There are not included in this prohibition the legatees and their relatives when the legacy is of some personal property or of a sum of small importance compared with the amount of the estate.

ART. 683. In order that a witness may be declared disqualified, it is necessary that the reason of his disqualification existed at the time. of the execution of the will.

ART. 684. The presence of two interpreters, designated by the testator to translate his provision into Spanish, is required for making a will in a foreign language. The will must be written in the two languages.

ART. 685. The notary and two of the witnesses who authenticate the will must be acquainted with the testator, and should they not know him he shall be identified by two witnesses who are acquainted with him and are known to the notary and to the attesting witnesses. The notary and the witnesses shall also assure themselves that in their opinion the testator has the legal capacity required to make a will.

Witnesses authorizing a will without the attendance of a notary, in the case of articles 700 and 701, are under the same obligation of being acquainted with the testator.

ART. 686. Should it not be possible to identify the person of the testator in the manner prescribed in the preceding article, this circumstance shall be stated by the notary or by the witnesses in a proper case, mentioning the documents which the testator may present for such purpose and giving a personal description of the same. If the will should be contested for such a cause, the burden of proving the identity of the testator is on the person supporting its validity.

ART. 687. Any will, in the execution of which, the formalities, respectively established in this chapter, have not been observed, shall be void.

SECTION FOURTH.-Holographic wills.

ART. 688. Holographic wills can only be executed by persons of age.

In order that this will may be valid, it must be drafted on stamped paper, corresponding to the year of its execution, and be written in its entirety and signed by the testator, giving the year, month, and day of its execution.

If it should contain words erased, corrected, or interlined, the testator must mention them over his signature."

Foreigners may execute holographic wills in their own language. ART. 689. Holographic wills shall be placed in a protocol, being presented for this purpose to the judge of first instance of the last domicile of the testator, or to the one of the place where he died, within five years, counted from the day of his death. Without this requisite it shall not be valid.

ART. 690. The person with whom such will may have been deposited must present it to the court as soon as he receives notice of the death of the testator, and should he not do so within the ten following days, he shall be liable for the losses and damages which may be caused by the delay.

It may also be presented by any person who may have an interest in the will as heir, legatee, executor, or in any other capacity what

soever.

ART. 691. After the holographic will has been presented and the death of the testator has been proven, the judge shall open it, if it should be in a closed cover, shall rubricate, together with the clerk, all the leaves and shall prove its identity through three witnesses who are acquainted with the handwriting and signature of the testator, and who depose that they have no reasonable doubt that the will was written and signed by the testator's own hand.

In the absence of competent witnesses, or if those examined have any doubts, and provided the judge considers it proper, he may employ handwriting experts for the purpose of comparison.

ART. 692. For carrying out the proceedings mentioned in the foregoing article, there shall be summoned as soon as possible, the surviving spouse, if there is one, the legitimate ascendants and descendants of the testator, and in the absence of all these, the brothers and sisters.

If these persons do not reside within the judicial district, or their existence is unknown, or being minors or incapacitated persons without legitimate representation, the department of public prosecution shall be cited.

The persons cited may be present at the observance of such proceedings and may make, at the time, verbally, the proper observations with regard to the authenticity of the will.

ART. 693. If the judge considers that the identity of the will has been proven, he shall order that it be placed in the protocol, together with the proceedings, in the registries of the proper notary, who shall give to the interested parties the copies or authenticated copies which may be proper. In other cases he shall refuse to place it in the protocol.

"See General Order No. 162, Headquarters Department P. R., October 14,

Whatever the decision of the judge may be it shall be carried out, notwithstanding objection, the rights of the persons interested to enforce it in the proper suit being reserved.

SECTION FIFTH.-Open wills.

ART. 694. An open will shall be executed before a notary, qualified to act at the place of its execution, and three competent witnesses who can see and understand the testator and of whom one, at least, must know how and be able to write.

From this rule shall only be excepted the cases expressly mentioned in this section.

ART. 695. The testator shall express his last will to the notary and to the witnesses. After the will has been drafted in accordance with the same, stating the place, year, month, day, and hour of its execution, it shall be read aloud in order that the testator may declare if it is in accordance with his wishes. If so, it shall be signed immediately by the testator and by the witnesses who can do so.

Should the testator declare that he does not know how, or is not able to sign, one of the attesting witnesses or another person shall do so for him at his request, the notary certifying thereto. This shall also be done if any one of the witnesses can not sign.

The notary shall always state that in his judgment the testator has the legal capacity required to execute the will.

ART. 696. When the testator, who intends to make an open will, presents his testamentary provisions in writing, the notary shall draft the will in accordance with the same, and shall read it aloud in the presence of the witnesses, in order that the testator may declare if its contents are the expression of his last will.

ART. 697. A person who is absolutely deaf shall read his will himself; if he does not know how or can not do so he shall designate two persons to read it in his name, always in the presence of the witnesses and of the notary.

ART. 698. If the testator is blind, the will shall be read twice, once by the notary, in accordance with the provisions of article 695, and the other time in the same manner by one of the witnesses or by any other person designated by the testator.

ART. 699. All the formalities mentioned in this section shall take place in a single act, and no interruption shall be allowed, except such a one as may be caused by a momentary incident.

The notary shall certify, at the end of the will, that all said formalities have been complied with and that he is acquainted with the testator or with the witnesses of identification in a proper case. ART. 700. If the testator is in imminent danger of death, the will may be executed before five competent witnesses without the necessity of a notary.

ART. 701. In case of an epidemic, the will may also be executed without the intervention of a notary, before three witnesses over 16 years of age, male or female.

ART. 702. In the cases of the two foregoing articles, the will shall be written, when possible; otherwise the will shall be valid, even though the witnesses do not know how to write.

ART. 703. The will, executed in accordance with the provisions of the three preceding articles, shall be void if two months should have