ight of recovering all things which had been acquired, whether by what
were called civil or natural modes of acquisition, Cod. l. vii. t. 25,
31. And he so altered the theory of Gaius in his Institutes, ii. 1, that
no trace remains of the doctrine taught by that civilian.--W.]

[Footnote 141: See the Institutes (l. i. tit. iv. v.) and the Pandects,
(l. vii.) Noodt has composed a learned and distinct treatise de
Usufructu, (Opp. tom. i. p. 387--478.)]

[Footnote 142: The questions de Servitutibus are discussed in the
Institutes (l. ii. tit. iii.) and Pandects, (l. viii.) Cicero (pro
Murena, c. 9) and Lactantius (Institut. Divin. l. i. c. i.) affect to
laugh at the insignificant doctrine, de aqua de pluvia arcenda, &c. Yet
it might be of frequent use among litigious neighbors, both in town and
country.]

The personal title of the first proprietor must be determined by
his death: but the possession, without any appearance of change, is
peaceably continued in his children, the associates of his toil, and the
partners of his wealth. This natural inheritance has been protected by
the legislators of every climate and age, and the father is encouraged
to persevere in slow and distant improvements, by the tender hope, that
a long posterity will enjoy the fruits of his labor. The principle of
hereditary succession is universal; but the order has been variously
established by convenience or caprice, by the spirit of national
institutions, or by some partial example which was originally decided
by fraud or violence. The jurisprudence of the Romans appear to have
deviated from the inequality of nature much less than the Jewish, [143]
the Athenian, [144] or the English institutions. [145] On the death of
a citizen, all his descendants, unless they were already freed from his
paternal power, were called to the inheritance of his possessions. The
insolent prerogative of primogeniture was unknown; the two sexes were
placed on a just level; all the sons and daughters were entitled to an
equal portion of the patrimonial estate; and if any of the sons had been
intercepted by a premature death, his person was represented, and his
share was divided, by his surviving children. On the failure of the
direct line, the right of succession must diverge to the collateral
branches. The degrees of kindred [146] are numbered by the civilians,
ascending from the last possessor to a common parent, and descending
from the common parent to the next heir