: for by
the statute of the Twelve Tables the inheritance of a freedman devolved
on his patron only when he died intestate without leaving a family
heir. If he died intestate, but left a family heir, the patron was not
entitled to any portion of this property, and this, if the family
heir was a natural child, seemed to be no grievance; but if he was an
adoptive child, it was clearly unfair that the patron should be debarred
from all right to the succession.

1 Accordingly this injustice of the law was at a later period corrected
by the praetor's Edict, by which, if a freedman made a will, he was
commanded to leave his patron half his property; and, if he left him
nothing at all, or less than a half, possession of such half was given
to him against the testament. If, on the other hand, he died intestate,
leaving as family heir an adoptive son, the patron could obtain even
against the latter possession of the goods of the deceased to the extent
of onehalf. But the freedman was enabled to exclude the patron if he
left natural children, whether in his power at the time of his death, or
emancipated or given in adoption, provided that he made a will in which
he instituted them heirs to any part of the succession, or that, being
passed over, they demanded possession against the will under the Edict:

2 if disinherited, they did not avail to bar the patron. At a still
later period the lex Papia Poppaea augmented the rights of patrons
who had more wealthy freedmen. By this it was enacted that, whenever
a freedman left property amounting in value to a hundred thousand
sesterces and upwards, and not so many as three children, the patron,
whether he died testate or intestate, should be entitled to a portion
equal to that of a single child. Accordingly, if the freedman left
a single son or daughter as heir, the patron could claim half the
property, exactly as if he had died without leaving any children: if he
left two children as heirs, the patron could claim a third: if he left
three, the patron was excluded altogether.

3 In our constitution, however, which we have drawn up in a convenient
form and in the Greek language, so as to be known by all, we have
established the following rules for application to such cases. If the
freedman or freedwoman is less than a 'centenarius', that is, has
a fortune of less than a hundred aurei (which we have reckoned as
equivalent to the sum of a hundred thousand sesterces fixed by the lex
Papia