e daughter of
Lentulus paid legacies which could not have been legally claimed from
her. It is said that Augustus called a council of certain jurists, among
them Trebatius, who at that time enjoyed the highest reputation, and
asked them whether the new usage could be sanctioned, or did not rather
run counter to the received principles of law, and that Trebatius
recommended their admission, remarking 'how convenient and even
necessary the practice was to citizens,' owing to the length of the
journeys which were taken in those early days, and upon which a man
might often be able to make codicils when he could not make a will.
And subsequently, after codicils had been made by Labeo, nobody doubted
their complete validity.

1 Not only can codicils be made after a will, but a man dying intestate
can create trusts by codicils, though Papinian says that codicils
executed before a will are invalid unless confirmed by a later express
declaration that they shall be binding. But a rescript of the Emperors
Severus and Antoninus decides that the performance of a trust imposed
by codicils written before a will may in any case be demanded, if it
appears that the testator had not abandoned the intention expressed in
them.

2 An inheritance can neither be given nor taken away by codicils, nor,
accordingly, can a child be disinherited in this way: for, if it were
otherwise, the law of wills and of codicils would be confounded. By this
it is meant that an inheritance cannot directly be given or taken away
by codicils; for indirectly, by means of a trust, one can very well
be given in this manner. Nor again can a condition be imposed on an
instituted heir, or a direct substitution be effected, by codicils.

3 A man can make any number of codicils, and no solemnities are required
for their execution.

BOOK III.

TITLE I. OF THE DEVOLUTION OF INHERITANCES ON INTESTACY

A man is said to die intestate who either has made no will at all, or
has made one which is invalid, or if one which has been duly executed
has been subsequently revoked, or rescinded, or finally, if no one
accepts as heir under the testament.

1 The inheritances of intestate persons go first, by the statute of the
Twelve Tables, to family heirs;

2 and family heirs, as we said above, are those who were in the power
of the deceased at the time of his death, such as a son or daughter, a
grandchild by a son, or a greatgrandchild by such grandchild if a male