/4/ To those, the
text reads, whom the donor has named heredes (quos heredes
appellavit). Here then was a voluntary transfer of more or less
property at pleasure to persons freely chosen, who were not
necessarily universal successors, if they ever were, and who
nevertheless took under the name heredes. The word, which must
have meant at first persons taking by descent, was extended to
persons taking by purchase. /5/ If the word became enlarged in
meaning, it is probably because the thought which it conveyed was
turned to new uses. The transaction seems [357] to have fallen
half-way between the institution of an heir and a sale. The later
law of the Ripuarian Franks treats it more distinctly from the
former point of view. It permits a man who has no sons to give
all his property to whomsoever he chooses, whether relatives or
strangers, as inheritance, either by way of adfathamire, as the
Salic form was called, or by writing or delivery. /1/
The Lombards had a similar transfer, in which the donee was not
only called heres, but was made liable like an heir for the debts
of the donor on receiving the property after the donor's death.
/2/2 By the Salic law a man who could not pay the wergeld was
allowed to transfer formally his house-lot, and with it the
liability.
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