Testamentary executors : a comparative study

Abstract

Article 762 of the Maltese Civil Code, corresponding to article 700 of the Italian Civil Code from which it is derived provides that : "It shall be lawful for a testator to appoint one or more testamentary executors." The figure of the testamentary executor has been widely discussed in doctrine under the provisions of the Italian Civil Code of 1865. The theories advanced were almost all related to the institute of agency. These theories recognized that the testamentary executor is an agent of the de cuius, a sort of "mandate post mortem" or an agent of the heirs, of the legatees ,of the hereditary creditors or of the inheritance.