“[I]f the estates so given them, by way of advancement, are not quite equivalent to the other shares, the children so advanced shall now have so much as will make them equal. This just and equitable provision hath been also said to be derived from the collatio bonorum of the imperial law: which it certainly resembles in some points, though it differs widely in others. But it may not be amiss to observe, that, with regard to goods and chattels, this is part of … the common law of England, under the name of hotchpot.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 516–17 (1766).
collatio bonorum
collatio bonorum (k[schwa]-lay-shee-oh b[schwa]-nor-[schwa]m). [Latin “collation of goods”] Civil law. The bringing into hotchpot of goods or money advanced by a parent to a child, so that the parent’s personal estate will be equally distributed among the parent’s children. Pl. collationes bonorum. See HOTCHPOT.
