Hereditary succession

“ Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and inducement to betray their trust. ”

“ In default of such a selection, the temporary administration of the Government shall devolve upon the Male Descendant from the original Ancestor, who is the next Heir in the established order of hereditary succession, if he shall have attained his majority.
Should the Prince, however, upon whom, according to the above regulation, the Regency would devolve, be a Minor, or be unable, from any other cause, to undertake it, the temporary direction of affairs shall then devolve upon the Male Descendant from the original Ancestor, who is the next Prince in succession after him. ”

“ In whatever light hereditary succession, as growing out of the will and testament of some former generation, presents itself, it is an absurdity. A cannot make a will to take from B the property of B, and give it to C; yet this is the manner in which (what is called) hereditary succession by law operates. A certain former generation made a will, to take away the rights of the commencing generation, and all future ones, and convey those rights to a third person, who afterwards comes forward, and tells them, in Mr. ”

“ And if these should have no descendants and there should be no legitimate heir it shall revert to the Crown in accordance with the one hundred and twelfth clause. But should a female be next in succession to the title of a noble or of an hereditary chief the next male heir shall inherit the title and estates. ”

“ A succession is acquired by the legal heir, who is called by law to the inheritance, immediately after the death of the deceased person to whom he succeeds. This rule applies also to testamentary heirs, to instituted heirs, and universal legatees, but not to particular legatees. ”

“ This I take to be the true reason of the constant preference of the agnatic succession, or issue derived from the male ancestors, through all the stages of collateral inheritance; as the ability for personal service was the reason for preferring the males at first in the direct lineal succession. ”

“ But the simplest plan of avoiding the difficulty was for the paterfamilias to regulate his succession by testament; and this was probably had recourse to, not so much for instituting a stranger heir when a man had no issue—according to patrician notions his duty then was to perpetuate his family by adopting a son—as for partitioning the succession when he had more children than one. ”

“ The principle of succession, which had often caused serious disputes, was defined in 1904, to the effect that the chief may nominate any male descendant through males from himself or from any male ancestor, but failing such nomination, then the rule of primogeniture applies. ”

“ If a man should die intestate, his children shall stand first in the order of succession; if there are no children, the inheritance shall descend to the grandchildren; if there are no grandchildren, then the great-grandchildren shall have a right to it; and if the decedent should leave neither children nor grandchildren, nor father nor mother, then his grandfather or grandmother, should either be living, may claim the inheritance of his estate. ”

“ In this regard there can be no difference between hereditary and elective monarchies; for the heir cannot inherit more than his ancestor enjoyed, or had a right to enjoy, any more than a successor can succeed to it. ”

“ As a matter of fact, sons were admitted to inheritance after their fathers, and sometimes succession was extended to other relatives, but the person taking inheritance paid a heavy fine for entering into possession, or gave up a horse, an ox, or some other especially valuable piece of property. ”

“ Taking the principal types in a logical sequence, which differs from the historical one, we may say that the aggregate of things and claims relinquished by a deceased person may: (1) pass to relatives or other persons who stood near him in a way determined by law. Should several persons of the kind stand equally near in the eye of the law the consequence would be a division of the inheritance. The personal aspect of succession rules in such systems of inheritance. (2) The deceased may be considered as a subordinate member of a higher organism—a kindred, a village, a state, &c. ”

“ If they are possessed of more than a hundred aurei, and leave a descendant or descendants of either sex and any degree to take the inheritance civil or praetorian, we have given to such child or children the succession to their parents, to the exclusion of every patron and his issue. ”

“ The unity of the inheritance and the social part played by it will constitute the ruling considerations in the arrangement of succession. The personal factor will be subordinated to the real one.
In practice pure forms corresponding to these main conceptions occur seldom, and the actual systems of succession mostly appear as combinations of these various views. We shall try to give briefly an account of the following arrangements: (1) the joint family in so far as it bears on succession; (2) voluntary associations among co-heirs; (3) division of inheritance ”

“ A succession to one had no connection with the succession to another. Each succession was the assumption of a distinct personal relation, in which the successor was to be determined by the terms of the relation in question.
The persona which we are seeking to define is the estate. Every fee is a distinct persona, a distinct hereditas, or inheritance, as it has been called since the time of Bracton. We have already seen that it may be sustained by more [352] than one where there are several heirs, as well as by one, just as a corporation may have more or less members. ”

“ Heirs apparent are such, whose right of inheritance is indefeasible, provided they outlive the ancestor; as the eldest son or his issue, who must by the course of the common law be heirs to the father whenever he happens to die. Heirs presumptive are such, who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would in the present circumstances of things be his heirs; but whose right of inheritance may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born: as a brother, or nephew, whose presumptive succession may be destroyed by the birth of a child ”

“ Inherit we must to some degree; and whatever comes to us by that method must belong to the parent before he is a parent. Traits acquired after parentage are certainly not transmissible, whatever may be the case before. Our inherited constitution, temper, character, tendency, is like an entailed estate. It is in the family, belongs to the family in succession, not to the individual. It is "owned" by the individual in usufruct, but cannot be sold, given away, or otherwise alienated. ”

“ If a man had no legitimate children, he could leave his whole inheritance to his natural children, or to their mother; but if he had lawful children, he could leave only one twelfth to the natural children and their mother. If the father died intestate, without leaving a lawful wife or issue, his natural children and their mother were entitled to one sixth of the succession, and the rest was divided among the lawful heirs. ”

“ If the heir, who would have acceded by virtue of the preceding paragraphs is deceased or renounced the Throne before the succession became open, the succession passes to His own direct legitimate descendants by order of primogeniture with priority given to males within the same degree of kinship. ”

“ A married son living separately from his father has no right of succession to the paternal property, but if he is unmarried, he receives half the share of a son who is living with his father. A daughter or a daughter’s son does not inherit the father’s property unless it is granted to either of them by a deed of gift. ”

“ If a child who had not been disinherited—and one improperly disinherited was eventually in the same position—was not instituted to some share, however small, of his parent’s hereditas, he was entitled to have the testament declared null in so far as the institutions in it were concerned, thus opening the succession to himself and the other heirs-at-law, but without affecting accessory provisions, such as bequests, nominations of tutors, &c. ”

“ Their office is also hereditary, and properly limited to the eldest son, whereas the chieftainship descends to the youngest son, or, failing sons, to the youngest surviving brother. The land also follows this law of inheritance, the younger sons in all cases inheriting, while the elder go forth and clear wild land for themselves. ”

“ Again, by the laws and customs of inheritance, the estate of the father descends to the first-born. The younger sons must be adopted into another family, or, failing this, must make their own fortunes independently. ”

“ The famous Shelley's Case stands for the principle that where in any instrument an estate for life is given to the ancestor, and afterwards by the same instrument, the inheritance is limited whether mediately, or immediately, to his heirs, or heirs of his body, as a class to take in succession as heirs to him, the word "heirs" is a word of limitation, and the ancestor takes the whole estate. For example, where property goes to A for life and the remainder goes to A's heirs, A's life estate and the remainder merge into a fee in A. A can sell or devise this interest. ”

“ When a Roman citizen died intestate or leaving no valid Will, his descendants or kindred became his heirs according to a scale which will be presently described. The person or class of persons who succeeded did not simply represent the deceased, but, in conformity with the theory just delineated, they continued his civil life, his legal existence. The same results followed when the order of succession was determined by a Will, but the theory of the identity between the dead man and his heirs was certainly much older than any form of Testament or phase of Testamentary jurisprudence. ”

“ Thrown into technical language, the dependence of the various conceptions which contribute to the notion of a Will is thus expressed. A Will or Testament is an instrument by which the devolution of an inheritance is prescribed. Inheritance is a form of universal succession. A universal succession is a succession to a universitas juris, or university of rights and duties. Inverting this order we have therefore to inquire what is a universitas juris; what is a universal succession; what is the form of universal succession which is called an inheritance. ”

“ At the time of implementation of this Act where the inheritance of family headship or inheritor of family headship is cited in other Acts and sub- ordinate statutes, the succession of family headship or successor of fam- ily headship is regarded as cited, and where the inheritance of property or the inheritor of property is cited, the inheritance or the inheritor is regarded as cited. ”

“ And whereas the laws expressly assign this right to those most nearly related, it will be easy to ascertain to whom these inheritances severally belong. And it is evidently reasonable that the succession in these cases should belong to those who would have stood in the place of nearest affinity, had the deceased experienced a natural death. ”

“ If a child die possessed of property and without descendants or a will the father is heir to all of it; if he is dead, the mother inherits only an equal share with each of the remaining children. If both parents and all brothers and sisters are dead, the grandfather is the sole heir ”

“ Turning now to a Dayabhaga family, we find that the property is vested, not in the family as a whole, but in certain individual members of it—that is to say, in those male members of the family who have no ancestor alive. And inasmuch as the undivided share of each member is his own, it follows that at his death inheritance will operate and it goes to his heirs. ”

“ The law of inheritance for people of distinction differs from that of the kings in the fact that the eldest son inherits by right of primogeniture, and succeeds to all his father’s property, wives and slaves. He generally allows his mother a separate establishment and maintenance and finds employment and maintenance for his father’s other wives in the family residence. ”

“ The male member of the family inherits, but he does so only as the son of a female member of the family through whom he may justly claim kinship, or, to put it in another form, a man's natural heir is not his son, or his brother's son, or the descendant of a common male ancestor, but his sister's, or his sister's daughter's son, or the descendant of a common female ancestress. ”

“ A long series of generations might pass away before such a case would arise. In the great majority of instances estates are transmitted in the lineal course of descent. When that line sometimes fails, they go to brothers or to brothers' children ; more rarely to an uncle or an uncle's children ; and in but a few rare instances to a grand uncle or the children of a grand uncle. One can easily understand, therefore, that in the generations which have passed since the records of this manor have been preserved, no instance of such a succession may have arisen ”

“ If the child of two parents has any property inherited from relatives, and that child dies before it is of age to make a will, or without making a will, the only person who inherits the property of that child is the child's father; the mother does not exist as her child's heir at all ”

“ Great-grandchildren may inherit as grandchildren, unless a decidedly contrary intention appear in the will; and in several cases it has been decided, that the term relations, or family, in a will, means next of kin. A pecuniary legacy to the heir of a testator is construed to imply the heir-at-law, and not the next of kin, unless the sense of the passage in the will was influenced by the context to mean something else. ”