Section 105 of The Indian Succession Act, enacts that a legacy shall fail or lapse and form a part of the remainder of the testator’s property, if the legatee (Beneficiary) does not survive the testator, unless testator intended that it should go to some other person. A legatee (Beneficiary) may not be born at the date of the will but he must be in existence when the testator dies.

The only event mentioned in this section is the death of the legatee (Beneficiary) in the lifetime of the testator. The legatee must have had a beneficial interest in the testator’s property for this doctrine to operate.

Example: A Legacy is given ‘to A or his representatives’. A dies before the testator. The legacy will not lapse; the word ‘or’ generally implies a substitution so as to prevent a lapse.