Inheritance

Abstract

Abstract This chapter surveys some of the most important aspects of the law of both testate and intestate inheritance in the period under discussion. It argues that the Roman law of succession can only really be understood within the context of Roman society, the networks of association and kinship and the complex social bonds that operated within the more privileged classes for whom inheritance was an important aspect of their social legacy and the legal standing of their family in generations to come. Ancient literary sources, reports of famous trials, sophisticated argumentations in the works of the jurists and epigraphic evidence enable different approaches to a better understanding of legal thinking and legal interpretation. Since succession was forbidden between Romans and peregrines, the law of inheritance was a special Roman matter, an important part of identity and a tool of integration.