After the permission of the decemvirs, each private
law-giver promulgated his verbal or written testament in the presence
of five citizens, who represented the five classes of the Roman people;
a sixth witness attested their concurrence; a seventh weighed the copper
money, which was paid by an imaginary purchaser, and the estate was
emancipated by a fictitious sale and immediate release.
This singular ceremony, which excited the wonder of the Greeks, was
still practised in the age of Severus, but the praetor had already
approved a more simple testament, for which they required the seals and
signatures of seven witnesses, free from all legal exception and
purposely summoned for the execution of that important act. A domestic
monarch, who reigned over the lives and fortunes of his children, might
distribute their respective shares according to the degrees of their
merit or his affection; his arbitrary displeasure chastised an unworthy
son by the loss of his inheritance, and the mortifying preference of a
stranger. But the experience of unnatural parents recommended some
limitations of their testamentary powers.
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