L A W. 
mull have been religioufly executed ; the unfaithful guar¬ 
dian might be profecuted by any individual citizen ; and, 
if guilty of deceit, fraud, or circumvention, he was de¬ 
clared infamous; his embezzlement of the effects of his 
ward was even deemed a theft, and puniftied by reftitu- 
tion of the double. 
On the death of an inteftate, his property defcended to 
his heirs living at his deceafe, or born within ten months 
after. Heirs were thofe perfons who were in his power, 
exclufive of (laves, at the time of his death, and thofe 
who were in the place of children to him at the fame pe¬ 
riod. Thus the fons, the daughters, and the widow, of 
the deceafed, (hared his eftate in even and equal propor¬ 
tions; but, if any of his fons had been emancipated by 
him, or died during his life-time without haying been 
emancipated, leaving i(fue male or female, fuch ifl'ue, born 
before fuch emancipation or death, or within ten months 
after fuch death, and the widow of fuch fon fo dying, took 
per Jlirpes of their refpedtive fathers or hufbands; that is, 
they divided equally amongft them the refpeftive (hares 
their deceafed fathers or huibands would have had if they 
had lived to furvive their deceafed parent, or which they 
would have been entitled to in the fame manner if they 
had not been emancipated. Daughters married before 
the parent’s death, being out of the power of fuch parent, 
took nothing in his fucceffion.' For want of fuch ilfue, 
the brothers and unmarried lifters, by the fame father, of 
the inteftate living at his deceafe, were called to the inhe¬ 
ritance, and divided it in even and equal portions; but, 
if the deceafed left no fuch brothers nor filters, his eftate 
devolved to all his kindred in the neareft degree on his 
father’s fide, defcending through males, equally per capita , 
or (bare and (hare alike. Thus, if the inteftate left a bro¬ 
ther, and nephews the children of another brother, the 
brother alive at the time of the deceafe of the inteftate 
took the whole in exclufion of the nephews, becaufe he 
alone was proximus, or the neareft ; and a fingle furviving 
After in like manner would have taken the whole, unlefs 
married as before-mentioned ; but, if the inteftate left 
neither brothers nor fifters, but two nephews by one fif- 
ter, three by a brother, and four by another brother, the 
nephews by the brothers would have divided the eftate 
per capita, or (hare and (hare alike, becaufe they were all 
in the fame degree, and all equally near, claiming though 
males; but the nephews by the fifter would have been 
excluded, becaufe no inheritance could defcend through 
a female. For the fame reafon the fon could not fucceed 
through his mother by defcent, but on her deceafe intef¬ 
tate.her eftate was (hared by her paternal kindred in the 
manner before-mentioned of the eftate of a perfon dying 
without a will; it being the policy of the legiflature to 
keep the inheritance or eftate in the family which fir ft 
p.o(fe(fed it. The mother could take nothing in the fuc- 
celfion of her fon. For want of kindred, the eftate de¬ 
volved to the neareft branch of the fame family. The 
property of an inteftate and childleFs freedman was con¬ 
ferred on the patron, and this right devolved upon his 
children, the patron being deemed in the nature of a 
proximus agnalus to him ; and it was immaterial whether 
the patron was male or female. By a confequence of this 
law, though the fon manumitted could not fucceed to 
his father^ yet the father fucceeded to his inteftate and 
childlefs fon emancipated by himfelf. The folitary veltals 
could neither be heirs nor legally have heirs. In the 
event of their inteltacy, their property devolved to the 
ftate. The inheritance mult have been claimed by chil¬ 
dren and kindred within a year from the time of notice 
of the fucceffion opened ; by all other perfons within a 
h.undred days ; in default, the unclaimed (hare devolved 
as ab iutejluto, to the neareft paternal kindred, in the way 
above fet forth. If the heirs of the inteftate chofe to di¬ 
vide the inheritance, three arbitrators were ordered by 
the pretor to carry the partition into effeft ; he allotted 
to each his (hare, who thenceforth became feparate owner 
of it; but at all times the heirs were only an (we table for 
. Vo'L, XII. No. 836. —L_ 
6 1 
the debts of the deceafed proportionably to the amount 
of, and according to, the (hares they actually received in 
the fucceifion; the legatees were not holden to the debts. 
Roadways in a direct line were to be eight feet; in an 
angle, (ixteen feet wide; and, if not fenced, any perfon 
might drive his cattle on either fide of them. By no con¬ 
veyance of rain or other water was the property of ano¬ 
ther to be injured. On complaint, the pretor ordered 
three arbitrators to remove the nuilance, the damage oc- 
cafioned by which was at the coft of the party creating 
it. A fpace of two feet and a half was to be left between . 
buildings all round, and in the fields a fpace of five feet 
between every man and his neighbour. The hedge mult 
not exceed the boundary ; a wall muft be a foot; an edi¬ 
fice two feet; a well a pace; and a ditch or pit its depth 
within the boundary-line. Olives and fig-trees muft be 
planted nine feet, all other trees five feet, from the fame 
line. All thefe laws relating to boundaries were taken 
from thofe of Solon. If by its growth a tree overfliadowed 
a neighbour’s property, he might ftrip it to the height of 
fifteen feet; 'out he who defttoyed or cut down his neigh¬ 
bour’s tree through malice, or carried it away, was liable 
to a penalty of twenty-five pieces of copper to the injured 
party. No one could loofen his pole or prop from a wall 
or vine, belonging to or planted by another; he who had 
wrongfully taken it and fet it up was liable to pay double 
its value; and, on the houfe being pulled down, or the 
prop pulled up from the vine, the owner might again 
claim his property. The fruit falling upon adjoining 
property might be gathered from off it by the owner of 
the tree. If difputearofe between parties upon any thing 
relating to boundaries, it was referred by the pretor.to 
the decilion of three indifferent arbitrators. 
Servius Tullius enafted no lefs than fifty laws relative 
to contracts, which were collected in the Papyrian code. 
All have perifhed but one, which for its plain equity has 
formed the ground-work, not only of the decemviral 
laws, but of every other body of enactments on the fub- 
ject : “ Let good faith be the balls of all contracts, and 
let none violate that faith.” The Tables rendered every 
parole-agreement binding, and fixed a penalty upon the 
party refuting to abide his engagement, of double the va¬ 
lue of the object of the contract. In the fame manner, 
the depofitary fraudulently pretending lofs or damage to 
the thing confided to him, was condemned to pay double 
the value of what he pretended to have loft or to have 
been damaged. 
That profit upon the loan of money, which under the 
name of ufury the fathers have condemned, and under 
that of interejl every government allows, was fixed by the 
Roman Tables at one per cent, per month, a rate fuffici- 
ent to eat up any capital, not fructifying by commerce, 
in a very (hort time, as the daily experience of annuities 
granted at the fame rate in this country fufficiently proves; 
but this was moderate compared with the prior and fub- 
fequent grindings of the ufurers, though, even in the for¬ 
mer cafe, if the law relating to the incumbent debtor was 
inforced to its utrnoft, we need hardly wonder at the re¬ 
volt of a whole people. The filtered: was reduced by fub- 
fequent laws, and at one time abolifhed ; but, like the laws 
of the decemvirs, thefe fubfequent enactments extended 
not beyond the city of Rome; and the ufurer affigned his 
bond to a Latin ally, who was not bound by thefe plebif- 
cita. The Sempronian law, therefore, extended the abo¬ 
lition to Latin' allies: upon this, the ufurer added the in- 
tereft to the debt, and made it one futn in the bond. The 
luxury of a court increafed the extravagance and debau¬ 
chery of the youth of Rome, fighingfor the enjoyment of 
their parents’ properties; and the ufurer was ever.prow¬ 
ling and at hand to alleviate their wants, and minifter to 
their gratifications, at the immoderate rate offixty percent. 
In the time of Velpafian the poft-ohits of Macedo had de¬ 
prived by anticipation the youth of Rome of all they could 
derive from their parents’ fucceffions. Like Solon with 
the mortgages of Athens, this great and wife emperor 
4 Z found 
