Disinheritance

As previously observed, certain heirs (the heredes sui et necessarii) inherited automatically and as of right on the death of the paterfamilias.

Although in principle a paterfamilias had the right to dispose of his estate in any manner he wished, the intention of disinheriting (exheredatio) a kin had to be conveyed in express terms and in a prescribed manner. In the course of time, a complicated system of rules developed that determined to what extent and under what circumstances a pater could or should disinherit his sui heredes. Thus the ius civile required that a son under his father's potestas (filiusfamilias) should be disinherited by name (nominatim), otherwise the will would be void. Other sui heredes, such as daughters, grandchildren and the wife in manu, could be disinherited as a group and without being named (inter ceteros). If these rules were not adopted, the will was not deemed invalid but the sui heredes who had been passed by inherited in equal shares with the sui heredes who had been instituted as heirs in the will.^[1095] Thereafter the praetor extended the existing law by providing, among other things, that all male liberi (including emancipati and postumi) had to be disinherited expressly and by name, whilst female liberi could be disinherited collectively. Passing by afiliusfamilias still rendered the will void, but in the case of all other descendants the praetor could grant bonorum possessio contrary to the testator's will (contra tabulas).

5.3.8