Challenges of the Knowledge Society (Jun 2022)
EVOLUTION OF SUCCESSION IN ROMAN LAW
Abstract
At the beginning, the Romans did not accept the idea that patrimonial rights could be passed on to each other, neither by acts inter vivos, nor by the cause of death. Therefore, they considered that, upon the death of the person, the patrimonial rights are extinguished and by taking possession of the succession, the inheritors did not acquire the same rights, but a new right of property. This concept of property-power has also been reflected in terminology, proof that the oldest term by which the inheritor was appointed is “heres”, and it comes from the word “herus”, meaning owner. Later, it has been admitted that the patrimonial rights of the person pass over to the inheritors, and from that moment in the Roman legal terminology, the terms of succession and successor have appeared. In Roman law succession evolved under the influence of 2 trends. A first trend is the decline of formalism. Originally, inheritance deeds required the observance of extremely complicated formal conditions. For example, the first Roman testament, calatis comitiis, took the form of a law voted by the people. In time, the principle of autonomy of will was accepted, so that towards the end of classical roman law, the will could be drawn up by a simple manifestation of will. The second trend concerns the protection of blood relatives. For a long time in the Roman law, agnation (civil kinship) was the only foundation of inheritance, so that only civil relatives could come to the succession. Towards the end of the Republic, a series of reforms were initiated in order to protect the blood kinship in succession, and during the time of Emperor Justinian, the old system was completely abandoned, and blood kinship (cognation) became the sole foundation of the inheritance.
