2.1.177 to 2.1.180

(149) For, if anyone has been appointed heir under the Civil Law by either a former or a subsequent will; or is the heir-at-law to an intestate estate, he can deprive the nominal possessor of the same; but, if no one else is an heir under the Civil Law, the possessor can retain the estate, nor will cognates, who have no legal title, have any right to deprive him of it. (149a) Sometimes, however, as we have mentioned above, heirs who were appointed by will are preferred to heirs-at-law; for instance if the will was not legally executed either because the estate was not sold, or because the testator did not utter the formula of declaration; for if the agnates of the deceased should claim the estate they can be barred on the ground of fraud in accordance with the Constitution of the Divine Antoninus. (150) Prætorian possessors of an estate are not excluded under the provisions of the Lex Julia ,by which estates which have no heirs are ordered to escheat to the government, if the deceased left no successor of any kind. (151) A will legally executed may be rendered void by the expression of a contrary intention, but it is evident that it cannot be rendered inoperative by such an intention alone; because after the testator was unwilling that it should stand, and even if he went so far as to cut the cord with which it was tied, it will, nevertheless, continue to be valid under the Civil Law. Moreover, if he should erase or burn the will, what he wrote will still be valid, although the proof of it may be difficult.