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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

PASSIVE, adj. Sc. Law usage: incurring or involving (financial) liability, of the nature of a liability, in n.combs. 1. passive debt, a debt due to another by the subject; 2. passive title, a title or right of possession to an estate of heritage which carries with it liability for the debts of the granter (see quots.).1. Sc. 1727 Chambers Cyclopedia s.v. Debt:
Active debts are those whereof a person is creditor; Passive debts, those whereof he is debtor.2. Sc. 1722 W. Forbes Institutes I. iii. 97:
Passive Titles to which apparent Heirs may be liable, before they enter.Sc. 1773 Erskine Institute iii. viii. § 87:
That apparent heirs might not, upon gratuitous dispositions from their ancestors, enjoy their estates without being liable for their debts, the passive title of praeceptio was introduced, by which an heir, if he accepts of a grant from his ancestor of any part, however small, of that estate to which he would have succeeded as heir, is subjected to the payment of all such debts due by the ancestor, as were contracted previously to the grant.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 711:
A passive title, by which the heir, without acquiring an active title, as by service or confirmation, tacitly, and by implication, subjects himself to the responsibilities belonging to the character of heir.Sc. 1841 Session Cases 334:
An apparent heir who enters into possession and intromits with the rents incurs the passive title of gestio pro haerede and makes himself liable for debts.Sc. 1927 Gloag & Henderson Intro. Law Scot. 489:
Passive title was introduced for the benefit of creditors of the deceased, and it is not available as a ground of action to heirs or legatees.Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 63:
Passive title. An expression which is used to denote the legal position of one . . . who through interference with the property of a deceased person is held liable for his debts: in contradistinction to the active title of one who can take action to recover debts, having duly entered as heir or obtained confirmation as executor.