[PAULUS libro primo ad Sabinum. ] §28.2.9.prSi quis postumos, quos per aetatem aut ualetudinem habere forte non potest, heredes instituit, superius testamentum rumpitur, quod natura magis in homine generandi et consuetudo spectanda est quam temporale uitium aut ualetudo, propter quam abducatur homo a generandi facultate.
[PAULUS, Book 1 on Sabinus.] If anyone appoints posthumous children, whom perhaps by reason of age or ill health he cannot have, as heirs, the prior testament is broken, because in man the nature of procreating and the general rule must be regarded more than a temporary defect or ill health, by reason of which a man may be deprived of the power of procreating.
§28.2.9.1Sed si ex ea, quae alii nupta sit, postumum quis heredem instituerit, ipso iure non ualet, quod turpis sit institutio.
But if anyone appoints a posthumous child as heir by a woman who is married to another, the appointment is void by operation of law, because the appointment is immoral.
§28.2.9.2Si filium exheredauero nepotemque ex eo praeteriero et alium heredem instituero et superuixerit filius post mortem meam, licet ante aditam hereditatem decesserit, non tamen nepotem rupturum testamentum Iulianus et Pomponius et Marcellus aiunt.
If I have disinherited my son and passed over the grandson by him, and have appointed another as heir, and the son survives my death, even though he dies before the inheritance is entered upon, Julian, Pomponius, and Marcellus say that the grandson will nevertheless not break the testament.
diuersumque est, si in hostium potestate filius sit et decesserit in eodem statu: rumpit enim his casibus nepos testamentum, quod moriente auo fili ius pependerit, non abscisum ut superiore casu fuerit.
And the case is different if the son is in the power of the enemy and dies in that same state; for in these cases the grandson breaks the testament, because at the death of the grandfather, the son's right was in suspense, and was not cut off as it was in the prior case.
sed et si heres institutus omiserit hereditatem, erit legitimus heres, quoniam haec uerba 'si intestato moritur' ad id tempus referuntur, quo testamentum destituitur, non quo moritur.
But even if the appointed heir declines the inheritance, the grandson will be the intestate heir, since these words "if he dies intestate" refer to the time when the testament is abandoned, not when he dies.
§28.2.9.3Sed si ex ea, quam nefas sit ducere, postumum heredem instituero, non putat rumpi testamentum Pomponius.
But if I appoint a posthumous child as heir by a woman whom it is unlawful to marry, Pomponius thinks that the testament is not broken.
§28.2.9.4Sed si per adoptionem sororem factam habeam, potero postumum ex ea heredem instituere, quia adoptione soluta possum eam ducere uxorem.
But if I have a sister made so by adoption, I will be able to appoint a posthumous child by her as heir, because if the adoption is dissolved, I can take her as a wife.