Inheritance Law in Europe and Its Metamorphoses in Territory and Time with an Emphasis on Development Trends and Social Contexts

Abstract

Inheritance law in Europe has undergone considerable development and its roots can be found, as in most areas of private law, in the Roman law. The aim of the paper is to provide a brief comparison of the view of inheritance law and its content within the framework of the Roman law, the Medieval law and the contemporary Slovak law and Czech law, with an overlap into the intended recodification. We will be particularly interested in the view on the purpose of inheritance law in these different historical epochs and the possibilities of the disposition mortis causa in them. We will also point out how the approach to inheritance law affects the society in which it is constituted. We will also pay attention to those historical institutes of inheritance law that could be applicable within the framework of the planned recodification of the Slovak private law.