LIBER TERTIUS.

I.

DE HEREDITATIBUS QUAE AB INTESTATO DEFERUNTUR.

INTESTATUS decedit, qui aut omnino testamentum non fecit aut non iure fecit aut id quod fecerat ruptum irritumve factum est aut nemo ex eo heres extitit.

Intestatorum autem hereditates ex lege duodecim tabu- 1 larum primum ad suos heredes pertinent. Sui autem heredes 2 existimantur, ut et supra diximus, qui in potestate morientis fuerunt: veluti filius filia, nepos neptisve ex filio, pronepos proneptisve ex nepote filio nato, prognatus prognatave. interest, utrum naturales sunt liberi an adoptivi. Quibus connumerari necesse est etiam eos, qui ex legitimis quidem matrimoniis non sunt progeniti, curiis tamen civitatum dati secundum divalium constitutionum, quae super his positae sunt, tenorem suorum iura nanciscuntur: nec non eos, quos nostrae amplexae sunt constitutiones, per quas iussimus, si quis mulierem in suo contubernio copulaverit non ab initio affectione maritali, eam tamen, cum qua poterat habere coniugium, et ex ea liberos sustulerit, postea vero affectione

Tit. I. For the precise meaning of testamentum non iure factum, ruptum, irritum, and destitutum see on Bk. ii. 17. pr. supr.

§ 1. The Twelve Tables, whose words ran 'si intestatus moritur, cui suus heres nec escit, agnatus proximus familiam habeto,' conceived the succession of a suus heres less as a succession than as a continuation of a common proprietorship whose exercise had lain dormant during the lifetime of the deceased paterfamilias: cf. Gaius ii. 157, Bk. ii, 19. 2 supr., and § 3 inf., 'quasi continuatur dominium,' Dig. 28. 2. 11 'in suis heredibus evidentius apparet, continuationem dominii eo rem perducere, ut nulla videatur hereditas fuisse, quasi olim hi domini essent, qui etiam vivo patre quodammodo heredes existimantur: ... itaque post mortem patris non hereditatem percipere videntur, sed magis liberam bonorum administrationem consequuntur.'

§ 2. For the modes of legitimating illegitimate children see on Bk. i. 10.

Z

procedente etiam nuptialia instrumenta cum ea fecerit filiosque vel filias habuerit: non solum eos liberos, qui post dotem editi sunt, iustos et in potestate esse patribus, sed etiam anteriores, qui et his qui postea nati sunt occasionem legitimi nominis praestiterunt: quod optinere censuimus, etiamsi non progeniti fuerint post dotale instrumentum confectum liberi vel etiam nati ab hac luce subtracti fuerint. Ita demum tamen nepos neptisve et pronepos proneptisve suorum heredum numero sunt, si praecedens persona desierit in potestate parentis esse, sive morte id acciderit sive alia ratione, veluti emancipatione: nam si per id tempus, quo quis moreretur, filius in potestate eius sit, nepos ex eo suus heres esse non potest. idque et in ceteris deinceps liberorum personis dictum intellegimus. postumi quoque, qui, si vivo parente nati essent, 3 in potestate futuri forent, sui heredes sunt. Sui autem etiam ignorantes fiunt heredes et, licet furiosi sint, heredes possunt existere: quia quibus ex causis ignorantibus adquiritur nobis, ex his causis et furiosis adquiri potest. et statim morte parentis quasi continuatur dominium : et ideo nec tutoris auctoritate opus est in pupillis, cum etiam ignorantibus adquiritur suis heredibus hereditas: nec curatoris consensu 4 adquiritur furioso, sed ipso iure. Interdum autem, licet in potestate mortis tempore suus heres non fuit, tamen suus heres parenti efficitur, veluti si ab hostibus quis reversus fuerit 5 post mortem patris sui: ius enim postliminii hoc facit. Per contrarium evenit ut, licet quis in familia defuncti sit mortis tempore, tamen suus heres non fiat, veluti si post mortem suam pater iudicatus fuerit reus perduellionis ac per hoc memoria eius damnata fuerit: suum enim heredem habere non potest, cum fiscus ei succedit. sed potest dici ipso iure

13. pr. the note on which section will also explain the words 'qui et his, qui postea nati sunt, occasionem legitimi nominis praestiterunt.'

§ 3. Sui heredes, however, could not be prejudiced against their will by a damnosa hereditas, as they enjoyed the praetorian 'beneficium abstinendi' whether called to succeed under a will or ab intestato: see Bk. ii. 19. 2 and notes supr.

§ 4. For the ius postliminii see on Bk. 1. 12. 5 supr.

§ 5. Of the term perduellio Festus says 'hostis apud antiquos peregrinus dicebatur, et qui nunc hostis perduellio:' the offence is defined in

et

esse suum heredem, sed desinere. Cum filius filiave et ex 6 altero filio nepos neptisve extant, pariter ad hereditatem vocantur nec qui gradu proximior est ulteriorem excludit: aequum enim esse videtur nepotes neptesque in patris sui locum succedere. pari ratione et si nepos neptisque sit ex filio et ex nepote pronepos proneptisve, simul vocantur. quia placuit nepotes neptesque, item pronepotes proneptesque in parentis sui locum succedere, conveniens esse visum est non in capita, sed in stirpes hereditatem dividi, ut filius partem dimidiam hereditatis habeat et ex altero filio duo pluresve nepotes alteram dimidiam. item si ex duobus filiis nepotes extant et ex altero unus forte aut duo, ex altero tres aut quattuor, ad unum aut duos dimidia pars pertinet, ad tres vel ad quattuor altera dimidia. Cum autem quaeritur, an quis 7 suus heres existere potest: eo tempore quaerendum est, quo certum est aliquem sine testamento decessisse: quod accidit et destituto testamento. hac ratione si filius exheredatus fuerit et extraneus heres institutus est, filio mortuo postea certum fuerit heredem institutum ex testamento non fieri heredem, aut quia noluit esse heres aut quia non potuit: nepos avo suus heres existet, quia quo tempore certum est intestatum decessisse patrem familias, solus invenitur nepos. et hoc certum est. Et licet post mortem avi natus sit, tamen 8 avo vivo conceptus, mortuo patre eius posteaque deserto avi testamento suus heres efficitur. plane si et conceptus et natus

Dig. 48. 4. 11 'perduellionis reus hostili animo adversus rempublicam vel principem animatus.' Theophilus remarks that it was the only crime for which a man could be proceeded against after his decease: cf. note on Bk. iv. 18. 3 inf.

§ 6. For a discussion of the two systems of division, per capita and per stirpes, see Maine, Early History of Institutions p. 195.

§ 7. What is meant is that the persons who would be sui heredes at the moment of the decease may not exactly correspond with those who would occupy that position at the moment when it first becomes certain that the man has died intestate, and that, where there is a difference, it is the latter who take, not the former. E.g. A dies, having instituted B, an extraneus, and leaving two sui, C and D : if, before B refuses the inheritance, C gives himself in adrogation, D will succeed to the whole on B's refusal, for at the time when the sui are to be ascertained C has ceased to be a suus by having undergone capitis deminutio.

fuerit post mortem avi, mortuo patre suo desertoque postea avi testamento suus heres avo non existit, quia nullo iure cognationis patrem sui patris tetigit. sic nec ille est inter liberos avo, quem filius emancipatus adoptaverat. hi autem cum non sunt quantum ad hereditatem liberi, neque bonorum possessionem petere possunt quasi proximi cognati. haec de suis heredibus.

Emancipati autem liberi iure civili nihil iuris habent: neque enim sui heredes sunt, quia in potestate esse desierunt parentis, neque alio ullo iure per legem duodecim tabularum vocantur. sed praetor naturali aequitate motus dat eis bonorum possessionem unde liberi, perinde ac si in potestate parentis mortis tempore fuissent, sive soli sint sive cum suis heredibus concurrant. itaque duobus liberis extantibus, emancipato et qui mortis tempore in potestate fuerit, sane quidem is qui in potestate fuerit solus iure civili heres est, id est solus suus heres est: sed cum emancipatus beneficio praetoris in partem admittitur, evenit, ut suus heres pro parte

§ 9. The old civil law of intestate succession regarded agnatic relationship exclusively those only who were in the agnatic family of a deceased person could succeed him. Thus those whom natural reason and more refined law deem nearer relations were often excluded by persons to whom later they would have been preferred: sons or daughters might be postponed to a distant cousin, because by being emancipated or given in adoption they had been capite deminuti, and so ceased to be agnatic kindred of their own father. These anomalies, as they seem to us, were but gradually corrected. Arranging the persons who possessed rights of intestate succession to a deceased in classes according to priority, so that the first excludes the second, the second the third, and so on, the first class under the old law, as we have seen, consisted of the sui. It was enlarged by the action of the praetor, whose mode of intervention has already been alluded to on Bk. ii. 10. 2 supr. He could not affect the hereditas, which was altogether beyond his control: but he could promise the bonorum possessio to whomsoever he pleased and by promising it, in the first instance, to liberi of the deceased, he practically added persons to the class of sui who by the civil law had no claim whatever. 'Liberi' are those descendants of a deceased man who either are, or would be, sui, had they not been either emancipated or given in adoption (though in the latter case they must have been emancipated by the adoptive before the natural father's decease, § 10 inf., Gaius ii. 136, 7); thus children have no claim to succeed their mother as liberi (Tit. 4 inf.), nor have a man's grandchildren by a daughter. The principle was analogous to

:

heres fiat. At hi, qui emancipati a parente in adoptionem 10 se dederunt, non admittuntur ad bona naturalis patris quasi liberi, si modo cum is moreretur in adoptiva familia sint. nam vivo eo emancipati ab adoptivo patre perinde admittuntur ad bona naturalis patris, ac si emancipati ab ipso essent nec umquam in adoptiva familia fuissent: et convenienter quod ad adoptivum patrem pertinet extraneorum loco esse incipiunt. post mortem vero naturalis patris emancipati ab adoptivo et quantum ad hunc aeque extraneorum loco fiunt et quantum ad naturalis parentis bona pertinet nihilo magis liberorum gradum nanciscuntur: quod ideo sic placuit, quia iniquum erat esse in potestate patris adoptivi, ad quos bona naturalis patris pertinerent, utrum ad liberos eius an ad adgnatos. Minus ergo iuris habent adoptivi quam naturales. 11 namque naturales emancipati beneficio praetoris gradum liberorum retinet, licet iure civili perdunt: adoptivi vero emancipati et iure civili perdunt gradum liberorum et a praetore non adiuvantur. et recte: naturalia enim iura civilis ratio peremere non potest nec, quia desinunt sui heredes esse, desinere possunt filii filiaeve aut nepotes neptesve esse : adoptivi vero emancipati extraneorum loco incipiunt esse, quia ius nomenque filii filiaeve, quod per adoptionem con

that of the civil law : no descendant could claim bonorum possessio in this class, if another stood between him and the deceased, exactly as no one is a suus heres who is not in the immediate power of the paterfamilias. It admitted of one exception. If a son were emancipated, while his children were retained in the grandfather's power, the latter were sui, and entitled by the Twelve Tables; on the praetorian system the son would naturally exclude them. To admit both the son and the grandchildren to independent shares would have wronged other liberi : accordingly, the son was allowed to take the portion which he would have received had he not been emancipated, on condition of transferring a moiety to his children, Dig. 37. 8. 1. pr.

Liberi who were not sui could claim bonorum possessio as such only on condition of making a collatio bonorum (see on Bk. ii. 19. 5 supr.), though bona castrensia and quasi castrensia were excepted from hotchpot because they would have been the son's own had he not been emancipated at all, Dig. 37. 6. 1. 15.

§ 10. Non... quasi liberi: but they are admitted in another order, as cognati, 13 inf.

§ 11. For the dictum 'naturalia iura civilis ratio peremere non potest' see on Bk. i. 15. 3 supr.