[SCAEuOLA libro sexto quaestionum. ] §28.2.29.10In omnibus his speciebus illud seruandum est, ut filius dumtaxat, qui est in potestate, ex aliqua parte sit heres institutus: nam frustra exheredabitur post mortem suam: quod non esse necessario in eo filio, qui apud hostes est, si ibi decedat et in nepote certe et pronepote, quorum si liberi heredes instituantur, institutionem numquam exigemus, quia possunt praeteriri.
In all these cases, this must be observed, that at least the son who is in power be appointed heir to some extent; for he will be disinherited after his death in vain. This is not necessarily the case with that son who is among the enemy, if he dies there, and certainly not with a grandson and a great-grandson, if whose children are appointed heirs, we shall never require their appointment, because they can be passed over.
§28.2.29.11Nunc de lege Uellea uideamus.
Now let us look at the Lex Velleia.
uoluit uiuis nobis natos similiter non rumpere testamentum.
It intended that those born during our lifetime should likewise not break a will.
§28.2.29.12Et uidetur primum caput eos spectare, qui, cum nascerentur, sui heredes futuri essent.
And the first clause seems to regard those who, when they were born, would be self-successors.
et rogo, si filium habeas et nepotem nondum natum tantum ex eo heredem instituas, filius decedat, mox uiuo te nepos nascatur? ex uerbis dicendum est non rumpi testamentum, ut non solum illud primo capite notauerit, si nepos, qui eo tempore instituatur, quo filius non sit, uerum et si uiuo patre nascatur: quid enim necesse est tempus testamenti faciendi respici, cum satis sit obseruari id tempus quo nascitur? nam etsi ita uerba sunt: 'qui testamentum faciet, is omnis uirilis sexus, qui ei suus heres futurus erit' et cetera. Etiam si uiuente
And I ask, if you have a son and appoint only a grandson as yet unborn from him as heir, and the son dies, and soon during your lifetime the grandson is born? From the words, it must be said that the will is not broken, so that he noted in the first clause not only the case where a grandson is appointed at a time when there is no son, but also if he is born during the lifetime of the grandfather. For why is it necessary to respect the time of making the will, when it is sufficient to observe that time at which he is born? For even if the words are: 'whoever shall make a will, let every male who shall be a self-successor to him' and so forth.
§28.2.29.13parente uiuo nascantur, sequenti parte succedentes in locum liberorum non uult rumpere testamentum: et ita interpretandum est, ut, si et filium et nepotem et pronepotem habeas, mortuis utrisque pronepos institutus succedens in sui heredis locum non rumpat.
Even if they are born alive during the lifetime of the ancestor, in the following part, it does not want those who succeed to the place of children to break the will: and it must be interpreted in this way, that if you have a son, a grandson, and a great-grandson, and both having died, the appointed great-grandson, succeeding to the place of a self-successor, does not break the will.
et bene uerba se habent 'si quis ex suis heredibus suus heres esse desierit' ad omnes casus pertinentia, quos supplendos in Galli Aquili sententia diximus: nec solum, si nepos uiuo patre decedat, nec succedens pronepos auo mortuo rumpat, sed et si superuixit patri ac decedat, dummodo heres institutus sit aut exheredatus.
And the words 'if anyone of his self-successors ceases to be a self-successor' are well suited, pertaining to all cases which we said should be supplied in the opinion of Gallus Aquilius: not only if the grandson dies during the lifetime of the father, and the succeeding great-grandson does not break the will upon the death of the grandfather, but also if he survived the father and dies, provided indeed that he was appointed heir or disinherited.
§28.2.29.14uidendum, num hac posteriore parte 'si quis ex suis heredibus suus heres esse desierit, liberi eius' et cetera 'in locum suorum sui heredes succedunt', possit interpretatione induci, ut, si filium apud hostes habens nepotem ex eo heredem instituas, non tantum si uiuo te filius decedat, sed etiam post mortem, antequam ab hostibus reuersus fuerit, succedendo non rumpet: nihil enim addidit, quo significaret tempus: nisi quod, licet audenter, possis dicere uiuo patre hunc suum heredem esse desisse, licet post mortem decedat, quia nec redit nec potest redire.
It must be considered whether under this latter part, 'if anyone of his self-successors ceases to be a self-successor, his children' and so forth 'succeed as self-successors to the place of their parents,' it can be introduced by interpretation that, if you have a son among the enemy and appoint a grandson from him as heir, not only if the son dies during your lifetime, but also after your death, before he has returned from the enemy, he [the grandson] will not break the will by succeeding. For he [the legislator] added nothing to indicate the time: except that, albeit boldly, you could say that this person ceased to be a self-successor during the lifetime of the father, even though he dies after his death, since he neither returns nor can return.
§28.2.29.15difficili est, si filium habeas et nepotem nondum natum instituas isque nascatur uiuo patre suo ac mox pater decedat: non enim suus heres est tempore quo nascatur nec posteriori alii succedendo prohiberi uidetur rumpere quam qui iam natus erit.
It is difficult if you have a son and appoint an unborn grandson, and he is born during the lifetime of his father, and soon the father dies: for he is not a self-successor at the time he is born, nor does anyone seem to be prohibited from breaking the will by succeeding in the latter part other than one who was already born.
denique et superiore capite ut liceat institui nondum natos, qui cum nascentur sui erunt, permittit, posteriore capite non permittit institui, sed uetat rumpi neue ob eam rem minus ratum esset, quod succedit.
In short, while in the former clause it permits the appointment of unborn persons who will be self-successors when they are born, in the latter clause it does not permit them to be appointed, but forbids the breaking [of the will] or that it should be less valid for that reason because he succeeds.
porro procedere debet, ut utiliter sit institutus: quod nullo iure potuit qui nondum natus erat.
Furthermore, it must proceed that he has been validly appointed, which could not be done by any law for one who was not yet born.
Iuliano tamen uideretur duobus quasi capitibus legis commixtis in hoc quoque inducere legem, ne rumpantur testamenta.
Yet to Julian, by mixing as it were the two clauses of the law, it seemed that the law introduced this also, lest wills be broken.
§28.2.29.16Quaeremus tamen, cum recepta est Iuliani sententia, an, si nascatur nepos uiuo patre suo, deinde emancipetur, sponte adire possit hereditatem.
We shall ask, however, since Julian's opinion has been accepted, whether, if a grandson is born during the lifetime of his father and then emancipated, he can of his own accord enter upon the inheritance.
quod magis probandum est: nam emancipatione suus heres fieri non potuit.
This is rather to be approved: for he could not become a self-successor by emancipation.