for therein we shall see what powers of inheritance were
given the female sex. The general principles are explained by Gaius
(iii, 1-38); and these principles followed, in the main, the law as laid
down in the Twelve Tables (451 B.C.). According to these, the estates of
those who died intestate belonged first of all to the children who were
in the power of the deceased at the time of his death; there was no
distinction of sex; the daughters were entitled to precisely the same
amount as the sons.[173] If the children of the testator had died, the
grandson or granddaughter _through the son_ succeeded; or the
great-grandson or great-granddaughter through the _grandson_. If a son
a daughter were alive, as well as grandsons and granddaughters through
the _son_, they were all equally called to the estate. The estate was
not divided per capita, but among families as a whole; for example, if
of two sons one only was alive, but the other had left children, the
testator's surviving son received one half of the patrimony and his
grandchildren through his other son the other half, to be divided among
them severally. If, then, there were six grandchildren, each received
one twelfth of the estate.

Here the powers of women to inherit stopped. Beyond the tie of
_consanguinitas_, that is, that of daughter to father, or granddaughter
through a _son_, the female line must at once turn aside, and had no
powers; the estate descended to the _agnati_, that is, male relatives on
the father's side. Hence a mother was shut out by a brother of the
deceased or by that brother's children. If there were no _agnati_, the
goods were given to the _gentiles_, male relatives of the clan bearing
the same name. In fact, under this regime we may say that of the female
line the daughter alone was sure of inheriting something.

In the days of the Empire some attempts were made to be more just. It
was enacted[174] that all the children should be called to the estate,
whether they had been under the power of the testator at the time of his
death or not; and female relatives were now allowed to come in for
their share "in the third degree," that is, if there was neither a child
or an agnate surviving. This was not much of an improvement; and the
principle of agnate succession is the only point in which Roman law
failed to give to women those equal rights which it allowed them in
other cases.

[Sidenote: Protection of property of children.]

There is no poi