[PAULUS libro secundo ad Sabinum. ] §29.2.22.prSi is, ad quem legitima hereditas pertinet, putauerit defunctum seruum suum esse et quasi peculium eius nactus sit, placet non obligari eum hereditati.
[PAULUS in the second book on Sabinus.] If the person to whom the intestate inheritance belongs should think that the deceased was his slave and should take possession of the property as if it were his peculium, it is held that he is not bound to the inheritance.
idem ergo dicemus, ut ait Pomponius, si quasi libertini sui, cum ingenuus esset, bona eius occupauit.
Therefore, we shall say the same, as Pomponius says, if he occupied the goods of the deceased as if they belonged to his freedman, although the deceased was freeborn.
nam ut quis pro herede gerendo obstringat se hereditati, scire debet, qua ex causa hereditas ad eum pertineat: ueluti adgnatus proximus iusto testamento scriptus heres, antequam tabulae proferantur, cum existimaret intestato patrem familias mortuum, quamuis omnia pro domino fecerit, heres tamen non erit.
For in order that anyone may bind himself to the inheritance by acting as heir, he must know on what ground the inheritance belongs to him: for example, if the nearest agnate appointed heir in a valid will, before the tablets are produced, thinking that the paterfamilias died intestate, should do everything as owner, he will nevertheless not be heir.
et idem iuris erit, si non iusto testamento scriptus heres prolatis tabulis, cum putaret iustum esse, quamuis omnia pro domino administrauerit, hereditatem tamen non adquiret.
And the same rule of law will apply if an heir appointed in an invalid will, after the tablets have been produced, thinking that it was valid, although he administered everything as owner, will nevertheless not acquire the inheritance.