3.1.1 to 3.1.4

THIRD COMMENTARY. (1) By the Law of the Twelve Tables, the estates of persons dying intestate belong to their proper heirs. (2) Children who were under the control of the deceased at the time of his death are held to be proper heirs, as for instance, a son or a daughter; a grandson or a granddaughter by a son; a great-grandson or a great-granddaughter by a grandson; nor does it make any difference whether these children are natural or adopted. Provided, however, that a grandson or a granddaughter, and a great-grandson or a great-granddaughter, are to be classed as proper heirs only when the party in the preceding degree has ceased to be under the control of his parent, either by the death of the latter, or for some other reason, for instance, emancipation; for if the son was in the power of the deceased at the time of his death, the grandson by that son cannot be a proper heir; and we understand that the same rule applies to all other descendants. (3) A wife who is in the hand of her husband is a proper heir because she occupies the position of his daughter; as well as a daughter-in-law who is in the hand of his son, for she occupies the place of a granddaughter; she will, however, only be a proper heir if the son in whose hand she is was not under the control of the father at the time of his death. We also say that the same rule applies to her who is in the hand of a grandson on account of marriage, for the reason that she occupies the place of granddaughter.