Conquest and the formalities of law established the use of codicils. If
a Roman was surprised by death in a remote province of the empire he
addressed a short epistle to his legitimate or testamentary heir, who
fulfilled with honor, or neglected with impunity, this last request,
which the judges before the age of Augustus were not authorized to
enforce. A codicil might be expressed in any mode, or in any language;
but the subscription of five witnesses must declare that it was the
genuine composition of the author. His intention, however laudable, was
sometimes illegal; and the invention of _fidei-commissa_, or trusts,
arose from the struggle between natural justice and positive
jurisprudence. A stranger of Greece or Africa might be the friend or
benefactor of a childless Roman, but none, except a fellow-citizen,
could act as his heir.
The Voconian law, which abolished female succession, restrained the
legacy or inheritance of a woman to the sum of one hundred thousand
sesterces, and an only daughter was condemned almost as an alien in her
father's house.
Pages:
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345