# The Institutes of Gaius 2.1.47-50

Roman Law and Society, The Institutes of Gaius, 2.1.47 to 2.1.50. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/the-institutes-of-gaius/2.1.47

(37) The same opinion is held by the authorities of a different school with reference to necessary heirs, namely, that it appears to make no difference whether a party becomes an heir by entering on an estate, or whether he becomes heir-at-law without his own consent; which will be explained in its proper place. Our preceptors, however, hold that the act of a necessary heir is void when he surrenders the estate in court. (38) Obligations, no matter how they may have been contracted, cannot be transferred in either of these ways; for if anything is due from someone to me, and I wish to transfer the claim to you, I cannot do this in any of the ways by which corporeal property is transferred to a third party; but it will be necessary for you to stipulate with the debtor under my direction, with the result that he will be released by me and becomes liable to you, which is called the novation of an obligation. (39) Without this novation, you cannot sue in your own name, but you must bring your action in my name, as my agent or attorney. [1] (40) In the next place, we should note that only one ownership exists for aliens, for any one of them is considered either to be the owner, or not the owner, of property. The Roman people, in former times, made use of this rule, for every one was either the owner under quiritarian right, or he was understood to have no ownership whatever; but subsequently, they established a division of ownership, so that one person could own property by quiritarian right and another could hold it by bonitarian right.

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Roman Law and Society, The 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.
License: Used with permission (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/about.html). Source: http://thelatinlibrary.com/law/gaius.html.