3.1.61 to 3.1.65

(57) Hence it happens that the title to the property of Latins under the Lex Junia ,and that to the estates of freedmen who are Roman citizens, differ greatly. (58) For the estate of a freedman who is a Roman citizen will, by no means, belong to the heirs of his patron; but it will belong absolutely to the son of the patron, and to his grandsons by a son, and to his great-grandsons by a grandson; even though they may have been disinherited by their father. Moreover, the estates of Latins will pass to the foreign heirs of a patron in the same way as the peculium of slaves, and will not belong to the children of the person who manumitted them, if they are disinherited. (59) Likewise, the estate of a freedman who is a Roman citizen belongs in equal parts to two or more patrons; although they may have had unequal shares in said slave, if they were his owners; but the estate of a Latin belongs to his patrons, according to the shares which each one owned in him when he was his master. (60) Also, with reference to the estate of a freedman who is a Roman citizen, one patron would exclude the son of another, and the son of one patron will exclude the grandson of another; but the estates of Latins belong jointly to a patron and the heir of another patron, in proportion to the share which would have belonged to the person who manumitted the slave. (61) Likewise, if one patron leaves three children, and another one, the estate of a freedman, who is a Roman citizen, is divided per capita ,that is to say, the three brothers will take three shares, and the other heir the fourth share. The estate of a Latin, however, belongs to his successors in the same proportion as it would have belonged to the person who himself manumitted the slave.