( 165 ) BOOK III.1 1. Intestatorum hereditates lege XII tabularum primum ad suos heredes pertinent. (2.) Sui autem heredes existimantur liberi qui in potestate morientis fuerint, veluti filius filiave, nepos neptisve ex filio, pronepos proneptisve ex nepote filio nato prognatus prognatave. nec interest utrum naturales sint liberi, an adoptivi. 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 moritur filius in potestate eius sit, nepos ex eo suus heres esse non potest. idem et in ceteris 1. THE inheritances of intestates by a law of the Twelve Tables belong in the first place to the sui heredes: 2. and those descendants are accounted sui heredes who were in the potestas of the dying man, as a son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter by a son, great-grandson or great-granddaughter sprung from a grandson born from a son. Nor does it matter whether they be actual or adopted descendants. But a grandson or granddaughter, and a great-grandson or greatgranddaughter, are in the category of sui heredes only when the person prior to them in degree has ceased to be in the potestas of his ascendant, whether that has happened by death or some other means, emancipation for instance: for if at the time when a man dies his son be in his potestas, the grandson by him cannot be a suus heres3. And the same we understand to be laid 1 The first four paragraphs of this book and a portion of the fifth are filled in conjecturally by the German editors of the text, as a leaf is want ing from the MS. at this point. XXVI. I. 3 I. 127. 14, deinceps liberorum personis dictum intelligemus. (3.) Uxor quoque quae in manu est sua heres est, quia filiae loco est; item nurus quae in filii manu est, nam et haec neptis loco est. sed ita demum erit sua heres, si filius cuius in manu erit, cum pater moritur, in potestate eius non sit. idemque dicemus et de ea quae in nepotis manu matrimonii causa sit, quia proneptis loco est. (4.) Postumi quoque, qui si vivo parente nati essent, in potestate eius futuri forent, sui heredes sunt. (5.) Idem iuris est de his quorum nomine ex lege Aelia Sentia vel ex senatusconsulto post mortem patris causa probatur: nam et hi vivo patre causa probata in potestate eius futuri essent. (6.) Quod etiam de eo filio, qui ex prima secundave mancipatione post mortem patris manumittitur, intelligemus. 7. Igitur cum filius filiave, et ex altero filio nepotes neptesve extant, pariter ad hereditatem vocantur; nec qui gradu down with regard to other classes of descendants. 3. A wife also who is in manus is a sua heres, because she is in the place of a daughter: likewise a daughter-in-law who is in the manus of a son, because she again is in the place of a granddaughter'. But she will only be a sua heres in case the son, in whose manus she is, be not in his father's potestas when his father dies. And the same we shall also lay down with regard to a woman who is in the manus of a grandson matrimonii causâ2, because she is in the place of a great-granddaughter. 4. Posthumous children also, who, if they had been born in the lifetime of the ascendant, would have been in his potestas, are sui heredes. 5. The law is the same as to those in reference to whom cause is proved after the death of their father by virtue of the Lex Aelia Sentia or the senatusconsultum: for these too, if cause had been proved in the lifetime of the father, would have been in his potestas3. 6. Which rule we also apply to a son who is manumitted from a first or second mancipation after the death of his father*. 7. When therefore a son or daughter is alive, and also grandsons or granddaughters by another son, they are called simultaneously to the inheritance: nor does the nearer in 1 II. 159. 2 I. 114. 3 1. 29 et seqq.; I. 67 et seqq. Sui heredes and agnati. 167 proximior est ulteriorem excludit: aequum enim videbatur nepotes neptesve in patris sui locum portionemque succedere. pari ratione et si nepos neptisve sit ex filio et ex nepote pronepos proneptisve, simul omnes vocantur ad hereditatem. (8.) Et quia placebat nepotes neptesve, item pronepotes proneptesve in parentis sui locum succedere: conveniens esse visum est non in capita, sed in stirpes hereditates dividi, ita ut filius partem dimidiam hereditatis ferat, et ex altero filio duo pluresve nepotes alteram dimidiam; item si ex duobus filiis nepotes extent, et ex altero filio unus forte vel duo, ex altero tres aut quattuor, ad unum aut ad duos dimidia pars pertineat, et ad tres aut quattuor altera dimidia. 9. Si nullus sit suorum heredum, tunc hereditas pertinet ex eadem lege xii tabularum ad agnatos. (10.) Vocantur autem agnati qui legitima cognatione iuncti sunt: legitima autem cognatio est ea quae per virilis sexus personas coniungitur. ita degree exclude the more remote: for it seemed fair for the grandsons or granddaughters to succeed to the place and portion of their father. On a like principle also, if there be a grandson or granddaughter by a son and a great-grandson or great-granddaughter by a grandson, they are all called simultaneously to the inheritance. 8. And since it seemed good that grandsons and granddaughters, as also great-grandsons and great-granddaughters, should succeed into the place of their ascendant: therefore it appeared consistent that the inheritance should be divided not per capita but per stirpes, so that a son should receive one-half of the inheritance, and two or more grandsons by another son the other half: also that if there were grandsons by two sons, and from one son one or two perhaps, from the other three or four, one-half should belong to the one or two and the other half to the three or four. 9. If there be no suus heres, then the inheritance by the same law of the Twelve Tables belongs to the agnates'. IO. Now those are called agnates who are united by a relationship recognized by the law; and a relationship recognized by the law is one traced through persons of the male sex. Brothers 1 I. 156. Tabula v. 1. 4: "Si ab intestato moritur cui suus heres nec escit, adgnatus proximus familiam habeto." 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 manum2 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 |