f the republic. The rigor of the
decemvirs was tempered by the equity of the praetors. Their edicts
restored and emancipated posthumous children to the rights of nature;
and upon the failure of the _agnats_ they preferred the blood of the
_cognats_ to the name of the _gentiles,_ whose title and character were
insensibly covered with oblivion. The reciprocal inheritance of mothers
and sons was established in the Tertullian and Orphitian decrees by the
humanity of the senate. A new and more impartial order was introduced by
the _Novels_ of Justinian, who affected to revive the jurisprudence of
the _Twelve Tables_. The lines of masculine and female kindred were
confounded: the descending, ascending, and collateral series was
accurately defined; and each degree, according to the proximity of blood
and affection, succeeded the vacant possessions of a Roman citizen.

The order of succession is regulated by nature, or at least by the
general and permanent reason of the law-giver: but this order is
frequently violated by the arbitrary and partial wills, which prolong
the dominion of the testator beyond the grave. In the simple state of
society this last use or abuse of the right of property is seldom
indulged; it was introduced at Athens by the laws of Solon; and the
private testaments of a father of a family are authorized by the _Twelve
Tables_. Before the time of the decemvirs a Roman citizen exposed his
wishes and motives to the assembly of the thirty curiae or parishes, and
the general law of inheritance was suspended by an occasional act of the
legislature. After the permission of the decemvirs, each private
law-giver promulgated his verbal or written testament in the presence
of five citizens, who represented the five classes of the Roman people;
a sixth witness attested their concurrence; a seventh weighed the copper
money, which was paid by an imaginary purchaser, and the estate was
emancipated by a fictitious sale and immediate release.

This singular ceremony, which excited the wonder of the Greeks, was
still practised in the age of Severus, but the praetor had already
approved a more simple testament, for which they required the seals and
signatures of seven witnesses, free from all legal exception and
purposely summoned for the execution of that important act. A domestic
monarch, who reigned over the lives and fortunes of his children, might
distribute their respective shares according to the degrees of their
meri