que eodem patre nati fratres agnati sibi sunt, qui etiam consanguinei vocantur, nec requiritur an etiam matrem eandem habuerint. item patruus fratris filio et invicem is illi agnatus est. eodem numero sunt fratres patrueles inter se, id est qui ex duobus fratribus progenerati sunt, quos plerique etiam consobrinos vocant. qua ratione scilicet etiam ad plures gradus agnationis pervenire poterimus. (11.) Non tamen omnibus simul agnatis dat lex XII tabularum hereditatem, sed his qui tunc, cum certum est aliquem intestato decessisse, proximo gradu sunt. (12.) Nec in eo iure successio est: ideoque si agnatus proximus hereditatem omiserit, vel antequam adierit, decesserit, sequentibus nihil iuris ex lege competit. (13.) Ideo autem non mortis tempore quis proximus sit requirimus, sed eo tempore quo certum fuerit aliquem intestatum decessisse, quia si quis testamento facto decesserit, melius esse visum est tunc ex iis requiri proximum, cum certum esse coeperit neminem ex eo testamento fore heredem.

therefore born from the same father are agnates one to another (and are also called consanguinei); nor is it a matter of inquiry whether they have the same mother as well. Likewise, a father's brother is agnate to his brother's son, and conversely the latter to the former. In the same category, one relatively to the other, are fratres patrueles, i.e. the sons of two brothers, who are usually called consobrini. And on this principle evidently we may trace out further degrees of agnation. II. But the law of the Twelve Tables does not give the inheritance to all the agnates simultaneously, but to those who are in the nearest degree at the time when it is ascertained that a man has died intestate. 12. Under this title too there is no succession': and therefore, if the agnate of nearest degree decline the inheritance, or die before he has entered, no right accrues under the law to those of the next degree. 13. And the reason why we inquire who is nearest in degree not at the time of death but at the time when it was ascertained that a man had died intestate, is that if the man died after making a testament, it seemed the better plan for the nearest agnate to be sought for when it became certain that no one would be heir under that testament.

1 III. 22. Ulpian, XXVI. 5.

14. Quod ad feminas tamen attinet, in hoc iure aliud in ipsarum hereditatibus capiendis placuit, aliud in ceterorum bonis ab his capiendis. nam feminarum hereditates perinde ad nos agnationis iure redeunt atque masculorum: nostrae vero hereditates ad feminas ultra consanguineorum gradum non pertinent. itaque soror fratri sororive legitima heres est; amita vero et fratris filia legitima heres esse non potest. sororis autem nobis loco est etiam mater aut noverca quae per in manum conventionem aput patrem nostrum iura filiae consecuta est.

15. Si ei qui defunctus erit sit frater et alterius fratris filius, sicut ex superioribus intellegitur, frater prior est, quia gradu praecedit. sed alia facta est iuris interpretatio inter suos heredes. (16.) Quodsi defuncti nullus frater extet, sed sint liberi fratrum, ad omnes quidem hereditas pertinet: sed quaesitum est, si dispari forte numero sint nati, ut ex uno unus vel duo, ex altero tres vel quattuor, utrum in stirpes dividenda sit hereditas, sicut

14. With reference to women, however, one rule has been established in this matter of law as to the taking of their inheritances, another as to the taking of goods of others by them. For the inheritances of women devolve on us by right of agnation, equally with those of males: but our inheritances do not belong to women who are beyond the degree of consanguineae'. A sister therefore is legitimate heir to a brother or a sister: but a father's sister and a brother's daughter cannot be legitimate heirs. A mother, however, or a stepmother, who by conventio in manum has gained the rights of daughter in regard to our father, stands in the place of sister to us.

15. If the deceased have a brother and a son of another brother, the brother has the prior claim, as is obvious from what we have said above3, because he is nearer in degree. But a different interpretation of the law is made in the case of sui heredes*. 16. Next, if there be no brother of the deceased, but there be children of brothers, the inheritance belongs to all of them but it was doubted formerly, supposing the children were unequal in number, so that there were one or two, perhaps, from one brother, and three or four from the other, whether the

inter suos heredes iuris est an potius in capita. iamdudum tamen placuit in capita dividendam esse hereditatem. itaque quotquot erunt ab utraque parte personae, in tot portiones hereditas dividetur, ita ut singuli singulas portiones ferant.

17. Si nullus agnatus sit, eadem lex XII tabularum gentiles ad hereditatem vocat. qui sint autem gentiles, primo commentario rettulimus. et cum illic admonuerimus totum gentilicium ius in desuetudinem abisse, supervacuum est hoc quoque loco de ea re curiosius tractare.

18. Hactenus lege xII tabularum finitae sunt intestatorum hereditates: quod ius quemadmodum strictum fuerit, palam est intelligere. (19.) Statim enim emancipati liberi nullum ius in hereditatem parentis ex ea lege habent, cum desierint sui

inheritance should be divided per stirpes, as is the rule amongst sui heredes1, or rather per capita. It has, however, for some time been decided that the inheritance must be divided per capita. Therefore, whatever be the number of persons in the two branches together, the inheritance is divided into that number of portions, so that each one takes a single share.

17. If there be no agnate, the same law of the Twelve Tables calls to the inheritance the gentiles: and who the gentiles are we have informed you in the first Commentary. And since we told you there that the whole of the laws relating to gentiles had gone into disuse, it is superfluous to treat in detail of the matter here.

18. Thus far the inheritances of intestates are limited by the law of the Twelve Tables: and how strict these regulations were is clearly to be seen. 19. For in the first place, emancipated descendants have, according to this law, no right to the inheritance of their ascendant, since they have ceased to be sui

1

III. 8.

2 Tab. v. 1. 5, "Si adgnatus nec escit, gentilis familiam nancitor." The explanation referred to is not now extant; it was contained on the page of the MS. missing between SS 164 and 165 of the first commentary. The subject being one of merely antiquarian interest, it will perhaps be sufficient to quote the following passage from Cicero, Topic. 6: "Gentiles sunt, qui inter se

eodem nomine sunt. Non est satis. Qui ab ingenuis oriundi sunt. Ne id quidem satis est. Quorum majorum nemo servitutem servivit. Abest etiam nunc: Qui capite non sunt deminuti. Hoc fortasse satis est." Festus also says: "Gentilis dicitur et ex eodem genere ortus, et is qui simili nomine appellatur, ut ait Cincius: Gentiles mihi sunt qui meo nomine appellantur."

Strictness of the civil rules as to inheritance.

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heredes esse. (20.) Idem iuris est, si ideo liberi non sint in potestate patris, quia sint cum eo civitate Romana donati, nec ab Imperatore in potestatem redacti fuerint. (21.) Item agnati capite deminuti non admittuntur ex ea lege ad hereditatem, quia nomen agnationis capitis deminutione perimitur. (22.) Item proximo agnato non adeunte hereditatem, nihilo magis sequens iure legitimo admittitur. (23.) Item feminae agnatae quaecumque consanguineorum gradum excedunt, nihil iuris ex lege habent. (24.) Similiter non admittuntur cognati qui per feminini sexus personas necessitudine iunguntur; adeo quidem, ut nec inter matrem et filium filiamve ultro citroque hereditatis capiendae ius conpetat, praeter quam si per in manum conventionem consanguinitatis iura inter eos constiterint.

25. Sed hae iuris iniquitates edicto Praetoris emendatae sunt. (26.) nam liberos omnes qui legitimo iure deficiuntur vocat ad hereditatem proinde ac si in potestate parentum mortis tempore

heredes. 20. The rule is the same if children be not in the potestas of their father, because they have been presented with Roman citizenship at the same time with him, and have not been placed under his potestas by the emperor'. 21. Likewise, agnates who have suffered capitis diminutio are not admitted to the inheritance under this law, because the (very) name of agnation is destroyed by capitis diminutio. 22. Likewise, when

the nearest agnate does not enter on the inheritance, the next in degree is not on that account admitted, according to statute law. 23. Likewise, female agnates who are beyond the degree of consanguineae have no title under this law. 24. So also cognates, who are joined in relationship through persons of the female sex, are not admitted: so that not even between a mother and her son or daughter is there any right of taking an inheritance devolving either the one way or the other3, unless by means of a conventio in manum the rights of consanguinity have been established between them".

25. But by the Praetor's edict these defects from equity in the rule have been corrected. 26. For he calls to the inheritance all descendants who are deficient in statutable title, just

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Praetorian emendations of this strictness.

fuissent, sive soli sint sive etiam sui heredes, id est qui in potestate patris fuerunt, concurrant. (27.) Agnatos autem capite deminutos non secundo gradu post suos heredes vocat, id est non eo gradu vocat quo per legem vocarentur, si capite minuti non essent; sed tertio, proximitatis nomine: licet enim capitis deminutione ius legitimum perdiderint, certe cognationis iura retinent. itaque si quis alius sit qui integrum ius agnationis habebit, is potior erit, etiam si longiore gradu fuerit. (28.) Idem iuris est, ut quidam putant, in eius agnati persona, qui proximo agnato omittente hereditatem, nihilo magis iure legitimo admittitur. sed sunt qui putant hunc eodem gradu a Praetore vocari, quo etiam per legem agnatis hereditas datur. (29.) Feminae

as though they had been in the potestas of their ascendants at the time of their death, whether they be the sole claimants, or whether sui heredes also, i.e. those who were in the potestas of their father, claim with them. 27. Agnates, however, who have suffered capitis diminutio he does not call in the next degree after the sui heredes, i.e. he does not call them in that degree in which they would have been called by the law if they had not suffered capitis diminutio; but in a third degree, on the ground of nearness of blood : for although by the capitis diminutio they have lost their statutable right, they surely retain the rights of cognation. If, therefore, there be another person who has the right of agnation unimpaired, he will have a prior claim, even though he be in a more remote degree. 28. The rule is the same, as some think, in the case of an agnate, who, when the nearest agnate declines the inheritance, is not on that account admitted by statute law. But there are some who think that such a man is called by the Praetor in the same degree as that in which the inheritance is given by the law3 to the agnates.

1 66 Quia civilis ratio civilia quidem jura corrumpere potest, naturalia vero non potest." I. 158.

2 That is, such a person is called in the third, not the second degree. The question here discussed is a very important one. If the agnate referred to took as one of the third class, he would take concurrently with cognates; whereas if he took in the second class he would have the

whole inheritance to the exclusion of the cognates. Further, if the agnate were thrown, in the case supposed, into the third class, he might after all get nothing from the inheritance, for instance he might be related to the deceased in the third degree of blood, and so be excluded by cognates who were of the first or second.

3 Sc. Tab. v. 1. 4.