Potestas deliberandi.

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tate nostra non sunt, heredes a nobis instituti sicut extranei videntur. qua de causa et qui a matre heredes instituuntur eodem numero sunt, quia feminae liberos in potestate non habent. servi quoque qui cum libertate heredes instituti sunt et postea a domino manumissi, eodem numero habentur.

162. Extraneis autem heredibus deliberandi potestas data est de adeunda hereditate vel non adeunda. (163.) Sed sive is cui abstinendi potestas est inmiscuerit se bonis hereditariis, sive is cui de adeunda hereditate deliberare licet, adierit, postea relinquendae hereditatis facultatem non habet, nisi si minor sit annorum xxv. nam huius aetatis hominibus, sicut in ceteris omnibus causis, deceptis, ita etiam si temere damnosam hereditatem susceperint, Praetor succurrit. scio quidem divum Hadrianum etiam maiori xxv annorum veniam dedisse, cum post aditam hereditatem grande aes alienum quod aditae hereditatis tempore latebat apparuisset.

potestas, when appointed heirs by us, are regarded as extraneous. Wherefore, those who are appointed by a mother are in the same class, because women have not their children in their potestas. Slaves also who have been instituted heirs with a grant of liberty, if afterwards manumitted by their master, are in the same class'.

162. To extraneous heirs is allowed a power of deliberating as to entering on the inheritance or not. 163. But if one who has the power of abstaining meddle with the goods of the inheritance, or if one who is allowed to deliberate3 as to entering on the inheritance enter, he has not afterwards the power of abandoning the inheritance, unless he be under twenty-five years of age. For, as the Praetor gives assistance in all other cases to men of this age who have been deceived, so he does also if they have thoughtlessly taken upon themselves a ruinous inheritance. I am aware, however, that the late emperor Hadrian granted this favour also to one above twenty-five years of age, when after entry on the inheritance a great debt was discovered which was unknown at the time of entry.

164. Extraneis heredibus solet cretio dari, id est finis deliberandi, ut intra certum tempus vel adeant hereditatem, vel si non adeant, temporis fine summoveantur. ideo autem cretio appellata est, quia cernere est quasi decernere et constituere. (165.) Cum ergo ita scriptum sit: HERES TITIUS ESTO: adicere debemus; CERNITOQUE IN CENTUM DIEBUS PROXUMIS QUIBUS SCIES POTERISQUE. QUOD NI ITA CREVERIS, EXHERES ESTO. (166.) Et qui ita heres institutus est si velit heres esse, debebit intra diem cretionis cernere, id est haec verba dicere: QUOD ME PUBLIUS MAEVIUS TESTAMENTO SUO HEREDEM INSTITUIT, EAM HEREDITATEM ADEO CERNOQUE. Quodsi ita non creverit, finito tempore cretionis excluditur: nec quicquam proficit, si pro herede gerat, id est si rebus hereditariis tamquam heres utatur. (167.) At is qui sine cretione heres institutus sit, aut

164. To extraneous heirs cretio is usually given, that is, a period in which to deliberate; so that within some specified time they are either to enter on the inheritance, or if they do not enter, are to be set aside at the expiration of the time. It is called cretio because the verb cernere means to deliberate, as it were, and decide'. 165. When, therefore, the clause has been written, "Titius be heir," we ought to add, "and make thy cretio within the next hundred days after thou hast knowledge and ability. But if thou dost not thus make cretio, be disinherited." 166. And if the heir thus instituted desire to be heir, he ought to make cretion within the time allowed for cretion, i.e. speak the words, "Inasmuch as Publius Maevius has instituted me heir in his testament, I enter on that inheritance and make cretion for it." But if he do not thus make cretion, he is debarred at the expiration of the time limited for cretion. Nor is it of any avail for him to act as heir, i.e. to use the items of the inheritance as though he were heir2. 167. But an heir appointed without cretion,

1 Ulpian, XXII. 25-34. "Crevi valet constitui: itaque heres quum constituit se heredem esse, dicitur cernere, et quum id facit, crevisse." Varro, de L. L. VII. 98. See also Festus, sub verbo.

2 "Pro herede gerere est destinatione futuri dominii' aliquid ex here

ditariis rebus usurpari. Et ideo pro herede gerere videtur qui fundorum hereditariorum culturas rationesque disponit. Et qui servis hereditariis, jumentis rebusve aliis utitur." Paulus, S. R. IV. 8. § 25. See also Just. Inst. II. 19. 7.

qui ab intestato legitimo iure ad hereditatem vocatur, potest aut cernendo aut pro herede gerendo vel etiam nuda voluntate suscipiendae hereditatis heres fieri: eique liberum est, quocumque tempore voluerit, adire hereditatem. sed solet Praetor postulantibus hereditariis creditoribus tempus constituere, intra quod si velit adeat hereditatem: si minus, ut liceat creditoribus bona defuncti vendere. (168.) Sicut autem cum cretione heres institutus, nisi creverit hereditatem, non fit heres, ita non aliter excluditur, quam si non creverit intra id tempus quo cretio finita sit. itaque licet ante diem cretionis constituerit hereditatem non adire, tamen paenitentia actus superante die cretionis cernendo heres esse potest. (169.) At hic qui sine cretione heres institutus est, quique ab intestato per legem vocatur, sicut voluntate nuda heres fit, ita et contraria destinatione statim ab hereditate repellitur. (170.) Omnis autem cretio certo tempore constringitur. in quam rem tolerabile tempus visum est centum dierum: potest tamen nihilo

or one called to the inheritance by statute law on an intestacy, can become heir either by exercising cretion, or by acting as heir, or even by the bare wish to take up the inheritance: and it is in his power to enter on the inheritance whenever he pleases. But the Praetor usually fixes a time, on the demand of the creditors of the inheritance, within which he may enter on the inheritance if he please, but if he do not enter, then the creditors are allowed to sell the goods of the deceased. 168. In like manner as any one instituted heir with cretion does not become heir unless he make cretion for the inheritance, so he is not debarred in any other manner than if he do not make cretion within the time at which the cretion is limited. Therefore, although before the day limiting the cretion he may have decided not to enter on the inheritance, yet on repenting of his act he may become heir by using his cretion, if a portion of the time of cretion still remain. 169. But one who is instituted heir without cretion, or who is called in by law on an intestacy, as on the one hand he becomes heir by bare wish, so on the other, by an opposite determination he is at once excluded from the inheritance. 170. Now every cretion is tied down to some fixed time. which object a hundred days seems a fair allowance: but

For

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Cretio continua et vulgaris.

minus iure civili aut longius aut brevius tempus dari: longius tamen interdum Praetor coartat. (171.) Et quamvis omnis cretio certis diebus constringatur, tamen alia cretio vulgaris vocatur, alia certorum dierum: vulgaris illa, quam supra exposuimus, id est in qua adiciuntur haec verba : QUIBUS SCIET POTERITQUE; certorum dierum, in qua detractis his verbis cetera scribuntur. (172.) Quarum cretionum magna differentia est. nam vulgari cretione data nulli dies conputantur, nisi quibus scierit quisque se heredem esse institutum et possit cernere. certorum vero dierum cretione data etiam nescienti se heredem institutum esse numerantur dies continui; item ei quoque qui aliqua ex causa cernere prohibetur, et eo amplius ei qui sub condicione heres institutus est, tempus numeratur. unde melius et aptius est vulgari cretione uti. (173.) Continua haec cretio vocatur, quia continui dies numerantur. sed quia

nevertheless, at civil law, either a longer or a shorter time. can be given, though the Praetor sometimes abridges a longer time. 171. And although every cretion is tied down to some fixed number of days, yet one kind of cretion is called common (vulgaris), the other cretion of fixed days (certorum dierum): the common is that which we have explained above', i.e. that in which are added the words, "after he has knowledge and ability:” that of fixed days is the cretion in which the rest of the form is written, and these words omitted. 172. Between these cretions there is a great difference: for when common cretion is appointed, no days are taken into account, except those whereon the man knows that he is instituted heir, and is able to make his cretion. But when cretion of fixed days" is appointed, the days are reckoned continuously, even against one who does not know that he has been instituted heir; likewise the time is counted against one who is prevented by any reason from making his cretion, and further than this, against one who is instituted heir under a condition. Therefore it is better and more convenient to employ common cretion. 173. This cretion is called "continuous," because the days are reckoned continuously. But since this cretion is too strict,

+ II. 165.

tamen dura est haec cretio, altera in usu habetur: unde etiam vulgaris dicta est.

DE SUBSTITUTIONIBUS.

(174.) Interdum duos pluresve gradus heredum facimus, hoc modo: LUCIUS TITIUS HERES ESTO CERNITOQUE IN DIEBUS CENTUM PROXIMIS QUIBUS SCIES POTERISQUE. QUOD NI ITA CREVERIS, EXHERES ESTO. TUM MAEVIUS HERES ESTO CERNITOQUE IN DIEBUS CENTUM et reliqua; et deinceps in quantum velimus substituere possumus. (175.) Et licet nobis vel unum in unius locum substituere pluresve, et contra in plurium locum vel unum vel plures substituere. (176.) Primo itaque gradu scriptus heres hereditatem cernendo fit heres et substitutus excluditur; non cernendo summovetur, etiam si pro herede gerat, et in locum eius substitutus succedit. et deinceps si plures gradus sint, in singulis simili ratione idem contingit. (177.) Sed si cretio sine exheredatione sit data, id est in haec verba: SI NON CREVERIS TUM PUBLIUS MAEVIUS HERES ESTO, illud diversum invenitur, quia si prior omissa cretione pro herede gerat, substitutus in partem the other is generally employed, and therefore it is called 66 common."

174. Sometimes we make two or more degrees of heirs, in this manner : "Lucius Titius be heir, and make thy cretion within the next hundred days after thou hast knowledge and ability. But if thou dost not so make cretion, be disinherited. Then Maevius be heir, and make thy cretion within a hundred days," &c. And so we can substitute successively as far as we wish. 175. And it is in our power to substitute either one person or several in the place of one; and on the other hand, either one or several in the place of several. 176. The heir, then, instituted in the first degree, by making cretion for the inheritance becomes heir, and the substitute is excluded: but by not making cretion he is excluded, even though he act as heir, and the substitute succeeds into his place. And so, if there be several degrees, the same thing happens to each successively in like manner. 177. But if cretion be given without disinheritance, i.e. in the words, "If thou dost not exercise cretion, then let Publius Maevius be heir;" this difference is discovered, that if the heir first named, neglecting his cretion, act as heir, the substitute is admitted