# Institutes of Gaius 2.1.260-264

Roman Law and Society, Institutes of Gaius, 2.1.260 to 2.1.264. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/institutes-of-gaius/2.1.260

(222) Therefore, in accordance with this opinion, if the property belonged to the deceased by quiritarian right, it can be recovered by the legatee, whether he be an heir or a stranger; but if it only belonged to the testator by bonitarian right, the legacy will be valid under the Decree of the Senate even if left to a stranger, and must be delivered by the heir under an order of court in an action for partition of the estate. If, however, it did not belong to the testator by any title, it would be valid under the Decree of the Senate, whether it was left to the heir or to a stranger. (223) Where the same property is left, either jointly or severally, to two or more legatees, each will be entitled to only proportionate shares, whether they are heirs, in accordance with the opinion of our preceptors, or whether they are strangers, in accordance with that of authorities belonging to the other school. [1] On the falcidian law. (224) Formerly, anyone was permitted to exhaust his entire estate by legacies and the enfranchisement of slaves, thus leaving nothing to his heir but an empty name; and the Law of the Twelve Tables, by which it is provided that a person may dispose of his property absolutely by will, seems to permit this to be done in the following words: "In whatever way a man may bequeath his property it shall have legal effect"; and for this reason, those who were appointed heirs rejected the inheritance and therefore the majority of persons died intestate. (225) Hence the Lex Furia was enacted, by the terms of which (except in the case of certain persons) it was not permitted to accept more than a thousand asses either as a legacy or as a donation in anticipation of death. This law, however, did not accomplish what was intended; for example, anyone who had an estate of five thousand asses, could leave to five men a thousand asses each, and, by doing so, exhaust the entire estate.

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Roman Law and Society, Institutes of Gaius. Text: The Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com), used with permission. Changes: HTML markup removed and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
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