The Twelve Tables | Page 3

(ita ius esto).
4. If a person die intestate (intestatus) and have no self-successor (suus
heres), the [deceased's] nearest male agnate shall have possession of
the estate.
5. If there be no male agnate, the [deceased's] clansmen[20] shall have
possession of the estate.
6. To persons[21] for whom a guardian (tutor) shall not have been
appointed by will (testamentum), to them [their] agnates shall be
guardians.
7. If a person be insane (furiosus), if there be not a guardian (custos) for
him, rightful authority over his person and over his property shall
belong to [his] agnates and [in default of these] to [his] clansmen. If a
person be a spendthrift (prodigus), he shall be prohibited from
[administering his own] goods and he shall be under the guardianship
(curatio) of [his] agnates.
8. If a freedman (libertus) shall have died intestate without
self-successor, [his] patron (patronus) shall take the inheritance of a
Roman citizen-freedman ... from said household into said household.
9. Items which are in the category of debts [due to or incurred by a
deceased person] shall be divided [among his consuccessors] by mere
operation of law (ipso iure) [in proportion] to [their] portions of the
inheritance.[22]
10. Apportionment of an estate (actio familiae erciscundae) [occurs],
when coheirs (coheres) wish to withdraw from common [and equal]

participation [in the inheritance].[23]

TABLE VI. OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION
1. When a person shall make bond (nexum) and conveyance
(mancipium), according as he has specified with [his] tongue, so shall
be the law (ita ius esto).
2. Both conveyance (mancipatio) and surrender in court (in iure cessio)
are confirmed.
3. Articles which have been sold and delivered are not acquired by the
buyer otherwise than if he has paid the price to the seller or has
satisfied him in some other way, that is, by providing a guarantor
(expromissor) or a security (pignus).
4. It shall be sufficient to make good those [faults] which have been
named by [one's] tongue, [while] for those [flaws] which he (the vendor)
has denied expressly [, when asked about these,] he (the vendor) shall
undergo a penalty of double [damages].[24]
5. For a loyal person and for a person restored to allegiance there shall
be the same right (ius) of bond (nexum) and of conveyance (mancipium)
with the Roman people.[25]
6. Against an alien (hostis) title of ownership (auctoritas) shall be
[valid] forever.[26]
7. A prescriptive title (usucapio) of movable things is completed by one
year's [possession], but [a prescriptive title] of an estate and of
buildings [is completed] by two years' [possession].
8. A person [who had been a slave and] who has been declared to be a
free man [in a will on some condition], if he shall have given 10,000
[asses] to the heir, although he (the slave) has been alienated by the
heir, by giving the money to the purchaser shall enter into his freedom.

9. If any woman [not married by confarreatio[27] or by co-emptio[28]]
be unwilling to be subjected in this manner [by usus (possession)] to
the hand of her husband (in manum mariti), she shall be absent [from
his house] for three successive nights in every year and by this means
shall interrupt the usus (possession) of each year.[29]
10. If the (the parties) join [their] hands [on the disputed property when
pleading] in court (in iure), [the actual possessor shall retain
provisional possession; but, when it is a case of personal freedom, the
magistrate] shall grant the right of claim (vindicia) [provisionally to the
party] asserting [the person's] freedom.
11. [If he find that another has used his timber (tignum)[30] in building
a house or in supporting vines,] a person shall not dislodge from the
framework the timber fixed in buildings in vineyard; [but he shall have
the right of action] for double [damages] against him who has been
convicted of fixing [such timber].
12. Whenever [the vines] have been pruned, until fruit shall have been
gathered [therefrom, the owner shall not recover the timber].

TABLE VII. REAL PROPERTY
1. [Ownership] within [a strip of] five feet [along a boundary] shall not
be acquired by long usage (usucapio).[31]
2. The way round [each outer wall of a building] shall be two and
one-half feet.
3. If they (the parties) disagree, boundaries shall be marked by three
arbitrators (arbiter).[32]
4. [Regulations relating to] inclosures, inherited plots, cottages.[33]
5. The width of a road [extends to] eight feet on a straight [stretch], [but
it extends to] sixteen [feet] on a bend.

6. [Neighboring] persons shall mend the roadway. If they keep it not
laid with stones, one shall drive [one's] beast vehicles [across the land]
where one shall wish.
7. If rain-water do damage [through artificial diversion from its natural
channels, the offending owner] shall be restrained by an arbitrator
(arbiter).
8.