Inheritance in Roman private law and the Codex of Eastern Galicia

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the history of the formation and development of legislation on inheritance in Roman law and on the territory of Galicia according to the Civil Code of 1797.
The problems of the historical development of Ukrainian law in the conditions of the development of the Ukrainian state cannot remain outside the attention of scientists and practitioners. Inheritance law, which originated in Ancient Rome and continues to develop in the modern world, is of great importance. In view of this, it is significant and relevant to carry out historical and legal research on the formulation of the institution of inheritance law in Roman law and in the western Ukrainian lands during the Civil Code of Galicia in 1797.
In Roman private law, inheritance by law (ab intestato) went through four stages of its development: inheritance according to the norms of ancient civil law, inheritance according to the praetorian edict, inheritance according to pre-Justinian legislation and inheritance according to the laws of Justinian and took place in the following cases: when the deceased did not leave a will ; if the will did not meet the necessary requirements or later became invalid or was annulled; if the heirs under the will did not enter into the rights of inheritance. The Civil Code of Galicia of 1797 defined inheritance by law in the following cases: if the deceased did not make a valid will; if in his will he did not dispose of the whole property or did not properly mention the persons to whom by law he had to leave a part of the inheritance.
As a result of the study of the features of inheritance in Roman private law and in the territory of Eastern Galicia in 1797, it becomes obvious that the code of Eastern Galicia integrated the main features of Roman private law, somewhat expanded and improved them. The conducted analysis shows that at different times inheritance law was and remains an important part of civil law that requires detailed regulation.