The major reform on intestacy of Emperor Justinian

Novel 118 (543 ce) and its supplementary Novel 127 (548) introduced a major reform through rules on intestacy that still play an important role in the civil law tradition. Justinian abolished the distinctions between agnates and blood relatives, as well as between male heirs and female heirs, and created the following order of succession: (a) descendants (with representation); (b) ascen­dants and brothers and sisters (the principle of representation applied only to children of a deceased sibling); (c) half-brothers and half-sisters (the principle of representation applied again exclusively to children); and (d) the other collateral relatives, with no representation and no limit of degree.