Inheritance law in ancient Rome

Inheritance law in ancient Rome was the Roman law that governed the inheritance of property. This law was governed by the civil law (ius civile) of the Twelve Tables and the laws passed by the Roman assemblies, which tended to be very strict, and law of the praetor (ius honorarium, i.e. case law), which was often more flexible.^[1] The resulting system was extremely complicated and was one of the central concerns of the whole legal system. Discussion of the laws of inheritance take up eleven of the fifty books in the Digest.^[2] 60-70% of all Roman litigation was concerned with inheritance.^[3]

In the case of intestacy, Roman inheritance law had no concept of primogeniture and treated male and female children equally. However, in most cases intestacy was avoided by means of a will. Roman law recognised very broad freedom of testation, but wills had to strictly follow correct formulae and phrases in order to be valid. The will had to name an heir. In addition to this, it could name a legal guardian (tutor) for underage children, manumit slaves, and leave legacies to third parties. Over time a separate system of fideicommissa ("trusts"), which allowed greater flexibility, developed alongside the system of wills.