,
and this whether the relationship be natural or adoptive. Among them
must also be reckoned children who, though not born in lawful wedlock,
have been inscribed members of the curia according to the tenor of the
imperial constitutions relating to them, and thus acquire the rights of
family heirs, or who come within the terms of our constitutions by which
we have enacted that, if any one shall cohabit with a woman whom he
might have lawfully married, but for whom he did not at first feel
marital affection, and shall after begetting children by her begin to
feel such affection and formally marry her, and then have by her sons or
daughters, not only shall those be lawful children and in their father's
power who were born after the settlement of the dowry, but also
those born before, to whom in reality the later born ones owed their
legitimacy; and we have provided that this rule shall hold even though
no children are born after the execution of the dowry deed, or if,
having been born, they are dead. It is to be observed, however, that a
grandchild or greatgrandchild is not a family heir, unless the person in
the preceding degree has ceased to be in the power of the parent, either
through having died, or by some other means, such as emancipation; for
if at the time of a man's decease a son is in his power, a grandson by
that son cannot be a family heir, and the case is exactly the same with
more remote descendants. Children too who are born after the ancestor's
death, and who would have been in his power had they been born during
his lifetime, are family heirs.

3 Family heirs succeed even though ignorant of their title, and they
can take upon an intestacy even though insane, because whenever the law
vests property in a person, even when he is ignorant of his title, it
equally vests it in him if insane. Thus, immediately on the parent's
death, the ownership is as it were continued without any break, so that
pupils who are family heirs do not require their guardian's sanction in
order to succeed, for inheritances go to such heirs even though ignorant
of their title; and similarly an insane family heir does not require his
curator's consent in order to succeed, but takes by operation of law.

4 Sometimes, however, a family heir succeeds in this way to his parent,
even though not in the latter's power at the time of his decease, as
where a person returns from captivity after his father's death, this
being the effect of the l