n to cases of intestacy, in which, firstly, he gives the
possession of goods which is called unde liberi to family heirs and
those who in his Edict are ranked as such. Failing these, he gives it,
secondly, to successors having a statutory title: thirdly, to the ten
persons whom he preferred to the manumitter of a free person, if a
stranger in relation to the latter, namely the latter's father and
mother, grandparents paternal and maternal, children, grandchildren by
daughters as well as by sons, and brothers and sisters whether of the
whole or of the half blood only. The fourth degree of possession is
that given to the nearest cognates: the fifth is that called tum quam
ex familia: the sixth, that given to the patron and patroness, their
children and parents: the seventh, that given to the husband or wife of
the deceased: the eighth, that given to cognates of the manumitter.

4 Such was the system established by the praetorian jurisdiction. We,
however, who have been careful to pass over nothing, but correct
all defects by our constitutions, have retained, as necessary, the
possession of goods called contra tabulas and secundum tabulas, and also
the kinds of possession upon intestacy known as unde liberis and unde
legitimi.

5 The possession, however, which in the praetor's Edict occupied the
fifth place, and was called unde decem personae, we have with benevolent
intentions and with a short treatment shown to be superfluous. Its
effect was to prefer to the extraneous manumitter the ten persons
specified above; but our constitution, which we have made concerning the
emancipation of children, has in all cases made the parent implicitly
the manumitter, as previously under a fiduciary contract, and has
attached this privilege to every such manumission, so as to render
superfluous the aforesaid kind of possession of goods. We have therefore
removed it, and put in its place the possession which the praetor
promises to the nearest cognates, and which we have thus made the fifth
kind instead of the sixth.

6 The possession of goods which formerly stood seventh in the list,
which was called tum quam ex familia, and that which stood eighth,
namely, the possession entitled unde liberi patroni patronaeque et
parentes eorum, we have altogether suppressed by our constitution
respecting the rights of patrons. For, having assimilated the succession
to freedmen to the succession to freeborn persons, with this sole
exception--in orde