Question

Principle: Everyone shall be permitted to take advantage of his own wrong.
Facts: A legatee was heavily drunk and driving his car at a speed of 100 Km/per hour in a crowded market. All of a sudden his testator came on the road. There were other people on the road at that time. The car driven by legatee hit the testator and four other persons. All the five persons hit by the car died.

• A. The legatee can take the benefit under the will
• B. The legatee cannot take the benefit under the will
• C. The legatee will be punished
• D. The property of the testator will go to his heirs

Hint:

Even when wrongful acts are involved, a legatee can inherit if the benefit is not directly linked to the wrongful act.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Read the principle literally rather than substituting the more familiar rule against profiting from one's own wrong, since this question states the opposite.

1. Legatee can take the benefit: The principle expressly permits everyone to take advantage of his own wrong, and the legatee's reckless driving is exactly such a wrong, so he remains entitled to the will's benefit.
2. Legatee cannot take the benefit: This applies the opposite, more commonly known maxim, not the principle actually given in the question.
3. Legatee will be punished: The principle only addresses entitlement under the will, not criminal liability.
4. Property goes to heirs: This only follows if the legatee were excluded, which the given principle does not do.

The correct answer is The legatee can take the benefit under the will.

Answer 2

Assuming each option true against the literal wording given.

1. Legatee can take the benefit: Assume true, then the principle's own words, permitting everyone to take advantage of his own wrong, must apply directly to the legatee's reckless driving. They do, that driving is his own wrong, and the principle as stated permits him to benefit from it, so the assumption holds.
2. Legatee cannot take the benefit: Assume true, then the principle would need to bar profiting from one's own wrong. The text says the opposite, it permits it, so this assumption substitutes a different, more familiar rule for the one actually given.
3. Legatee will be punished: Assume true, then the principle would need to address criminal consequences. It only speaks to entitlement under the will, so the assumption reaches past what the stated text covers.
4. Property goes to heirs: Assume true, then the legatee must be excluded from the will first. That exclusion would only happen under the opposite rule, not the one given, so the assumption has no basis in this principle.

Only the assumption that the legatee retains the benefit survives once the principle is read exactly as worded, rather than replaced with the more common contrary maxim.

Therefore, the correct answer is The legatee can take the benefit under the will.