1. Necessarius hæres est servus hæres institutus; ideòque sic appellatur, quia, sive velit, sive nolit, omninò post mortem testatoris protinus liber et necessarius hæres fit. Undè, qui facultates suas suspectas habent, solent servum suum primo aut secundo aut etiam ulteriore gradu hæredem instituere; ut, si creditoribus satis non fiat, potius ejus hæredis bona, quam ipsius testatoris, à creditoribus possideantur, vel distrahantur, vel inter eos dividantur. Pro hoc tamen incommodo illud ei commodum prestatur, ut ea, quæ post mortem patroni sui si § 1. A slabe instituted by his master, is a necessary heir; and he is so called, because at the death of the testator he becomes instantly free, and is compellable to take the heirship; he therefore, who suspects his circumstances, commonly institutes his slave to be his heir in the first, second, or some other place; so that, if he does not leave a sum equal to his debts, the goods, which are seized, sold, or divided among his creditors, may rather seem to be those of his heir, than his own. But a slave, in recompence of this inconvenience, is allowed whatever he hath acquired bi acquisierit, ipsi reserventur. Et quamvis bona defuncti non sufficiant creditoribus, iterum tamen ex ea causâ res ejus, quas sibi acquisierit, non væneunt. De suis § II. Sui autem et necessarii hæ redes sunt, veluti filius, filia, nepos neptisve ex filio, et deinceps cæteri liberi, qui in potestate morientis modò fuerint. Sed, ut nepos neptisve sui hæredes sint, non sufficit eum eamve in potestate ayi mortis tempore fuisse: sed opus est, ut pater ejus, vivo patre suo, desierit suus hæres esse, aut morte interceptus, aut qualibet alià ratione liberatus à patriâ potestate; tunc enim nepos neptisve in locum patris sui succedit. Sed sui quidem hæredes ideò appellantur, quia domestici hæredes sunt, et vivo quoque patre quodammodo domini existimantur. Undè etiam, si quis intestatus moriatur, prima causa est in successione liberorum. Necessarii vero ideò dicuntur, quia omninò, sive velint, sive nolint, tam ab intestato quam ex testamento, ex lege duodecim tabularum hæredes fiunt. Sed his prætor permittit volentibus abstinere hæreditate, ut potius parentis quam ipsorum bona similitèr à creditoribus possideantur. after the death of his patron ; for such acquisitions are not to be sold, although the goods of the deceased should be ever so insufficient for the payment of his creditors. hæredibus. § 2. Proper and necessary heirs, are sons, daughters, grand-sons or grand-daughters by a son or other direct descendants, in the power of the deceased at the time of his death. To constitute grand-children proper heirs, it does not suffice, that they were in the power of their grandfather at the time of his decease; but it is requisite, that their father should have ceased to be a proper heir in the life-time of his father, by having been freed, either by death or otherwise from paternal authority; for then it is, that the grand-son or grand-daughter succeeds in place of their father. Heirs are called sui or proper, because they are domestie; and in the very life-time of their father are reputed masters in a certain degree. Hence the children of an intestate are first in succession; and are called necessary heirs, because, willing or unwilling, they become the heirs of their parent according to the law of the 12 tables, whether under a testament or an intestacy. But, when children request it, the prætor permits them to abstain from the inheritance, that the effects of their parents, rather than their own, may be seized by the crcditors. De extraneis. § III. Cæteri, qui testatoris juri subjecti non sunt, extranei hæredes appellantur; itaque liberi nostri, qui in potestate nostrà non sunt, hæredes à nobis instituti, extranei hæredes nobis videntur. Quá de causâ et qui hæredes à matre instituuntur eodem numero sunt: quia fæminæ, in potestate, liberos non ha be it. Servus quoque hæres à domino institutus, et post factum testamentum ab eo manumissus, eodem numero habetur. 3. All other heirs, not subject to the power of the testator, are called strangers: thus, children, not under the power of their father, but who are constituted his heirs, are strangers in a legal sense: and so are children, instituted heirs by their mother, for a woman is not allowed to have her children under her own power. A slave also, whom his master hath instituted by testament and afterwards manumitted, is so ac counted. De testamenti factione. 6IV. In extraneis hæredibus illud observatur, ut sit cum eis testamenti factio, sivè hæredes ipsi instituantur, sive ii, qui in potestate eorum sunt. Et id duobus temporibus inspicitur; testamenti quidem facti tempore, ut constiterit institutio; mortis verò testatoris, ut effectum habeat. Hoc amplius, et cum adit hæreditatem, esse debet cum eo testamenti factio, sivè purè sivè sub conditione hæres institutus sit. Nam jus hæredis eo maxime tempore inspiciendum est, quo acquirit hæreditatem. Medio autem tempore, inter factum testamentum et mortem testatoris vel conditionem institutionis existentem, mutatio juris non nocet hæredi: quia, ut diximus, tria tempora inspici debent. Testamenti autem factionem non solùm is habere videtur, qui testamentum facere potest; sed etiam, qui ex alieno testamento vel ipse capere potest, vel alii acquirere, licèt non § 4. As to strangers, it is requisite, that they should be capable of the faction of a testament, whether instituted heirs themselves, or whether those, under their power, are instituted. instituted. And this qualification is required at two several times; at the making of the testament, that the institution may be valid; and at the testator's death, that it may take ef fect: and further, whether an heir be appointed simply or conditionally, yet he ought to be capable of the fac tion of a testament at the time of entering upon the inheritance; for his right is principally regarded at the time of acquiring the possession. But intermediately, between the making of the testament and the death of the testator, or the completion of the condition of the institution, the heir will not be prejudiced by incapacity or change of state; because the three points of time which we have noted, are the times to be regarded. Not possit facere testamentum. Et ideo furiosus, et mutus, et posthumus, et infans, et filius-familias, et seryus alienus, testamenti factionem habere dicuntur. Licèt enim testamentum facere non possint, attamen ex testamento vel sibi vel alii acquirere possunt. only a man, capable of willing, is said to have testamenti factionem ; but also any person capable of taking for the benefit of himself, or of acquiring by testament for the benefit of another: hence, persons mad, mute, or posthumous, infants, the sons of a family, or slaves not your own, may all be said to have the faction of a testament (in its passive signification.) For, although incapable of making, they are capable of acquiring by testament, either for themselves or others. De jure deliberandi, et de beneficio inventarii. V. Extraneis autem hæredibus deliberandi potestas est de adeunda hæreditate vel non adeundâ. Sed, sivè is, cui abstinendi potestas est, immiscuerit se bonis hæreditatis, sivè extraneus, cui de adeundâ hæreditate deliberare licet, adierit, postea relinquendæ hæreditatis facultatem non habet, nisi minor sit 25 annis: nam hujusmodi ætatis hominibus, sicut in cæteris omnibus causis, deceptis, ita et si temerè damnosam hæreditatem susceperint, prætor succurrit. Sciendum est tamen, Divum Hadrianum etiam majori 25 annis veniam dedisse, cum post aditam hæreditatem grande æs alienum, quod aditæ hæreditatis tempore latebat, emersisset. Sed hoc quidem Divus Hadrianus cuidam speciali beneficio præstitit. Divus autem Gordianus postea militibus tantummodò hoc concessit. Sed nostra benevolentia commune omnibus subjectis imperio nostro hoc § 5. Strangers, appointed heirs, may deliberate 'ere they enter upon an inheritance. But, if one, who has the liberty of abstaining, or a stranger, who is permitted to deliberate, should once intermeddle, it will not afterwards be in his power to renounce the inheritance, unless he shall be under the age of twentyfive years: for the prætor, in this, as in all other cases, relieves minors, who have been deceived, and whe rashly take upon themselves an inju-rious inheritance. Here it must be noted, that the emperor Adrian once gave permission to a person of full age, to relinquish an inheritance, when it appeared to be incumbered with a great debt, which had been concealed, until the heir had taken upon himself the administration. But this was granted as a special favour. The emperor Gordian afterwards published a constitution for the indemnification of heirs, yet confined beneficium præstitit: et constitutionem tam æquissimam quam nobilissimam scripsit, cujus tenorem si observaverint homines, licèt eis a dire hæreditatem, et in tantùm teneri, quantùm valere bona hæreditatis contingit, ut ex hac causâ neque deliberationis auxilium sit eis necessarium, nisi, omissà observatione nostræ constitutionis, et deliberandum existimaverint, et sese veteri gravamini aditionis supponere maluerint. the force of it to those only, who were of the soldiery. But our extended benevolence hath rendered this benefit common to all our subjects, having dictated a constitution just and noble, which, if heirs will observe, they may enter upon their inheritance, and not be chargeable be-' yond the value of the estate; so that they need not pray time for deliberation, unless they omit to observe the tenor of our ordinance, chusing rather to deliberate, and submit themselves to the risk attending the acceptance under the ancient law. De acquirendâ vel omittendâ hæreditate. VI. Item extraneus hæres testamento institutus, aut ab intestato ad legitimam hæreditatem vocatus, potest aut pro hærede gerendo, aut etiam nudâ voluntate suscipiendæ hæreditatis, hæres fieri. Pro hærede autem gerere quis videtur, si rebus hæreditariis tanquàm hæres utatur, vel vendendo res hæreditarias, vel prædia colendo, locandove, et quoquo modo voluntatem suam declaret, vel re, vel verbo, de adeundâ hæreditate; dummodò sciat, eum, in cujus bonis pro hærede gerit, testatum intestatumve obiisse, et se ei hæredem esse. Pro hærede enim gerere, est pro domino gerere: veteres enim, hæredes pro dominis appellabant. Sicut autèm nudâ voluntate extraneus hæres fit, ita contrarià destinatione statim ab hæreditate repellitur. Eum, qui surdus vel mutus natus, vel postea factus est, nihil prohibet § 6. A stranger, instituted by testament, or called by law to a succession in a case of intestacy, may make himself accountable as heir, either by doing some act as such; or by barely signifying his acceptance of the heirship. And a man is deemed to act as the heir of an inheritance, if he treat it as his own, by selling any part of it, by cultivating the ground, or by leasing it: or declare his consent to accept it, either by act or speech; knowing that the person, with whose estate he intermeddles, is dead testate or intestate, ana that he himself is the heir for to act as heir, is to act as proprietor; and the ancients frequently used the term heir, when they would denote the proprietor. But as a stranger may become heir by a bare consent, so on the contrary, by a mere dissent, he may bar himself from an inheritance. And nothing prevents, but that a |