Opinion ID: 1113494
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Customary Law

Text: In contrast to Rome, the regions governed by the customary law, such as France, operated under a doctrine known as the réserve. Although the origin of the réserve is not well known, the doctrine is generally viewed as arising from a concept of family co-ownership of estates and a political notion of preserving this co-ownership. [16] This stands in stark contrast to the Roman institution of légitime, which was based on a perceived moral duty which the testator owed to his close relatives. Because the basis for the réserve was different from that of the légitime, its application as a limitation on a decedent's freedom of testation was likewise dissimilar. Whereas the légitime was levied against all of a decedent's property, the réserve operated only on propres (immovables acquired by inheritance)acquets, community immovables, and all movables were freely disposable. Furthermore, while the Roman légitime preserved a maximum of one-half of the decedent's estate (if he left five or more heirs), the réserve operated on a much greater portion of the decedent's propres, four-fifths of the decedent's propres regardless of how many heirs the decedent left. [17] Finally, the réserve was only a limitation on a decedent's testamentary dispositions; the testator could still deprive the heirs of the réserve by inter vivos donations. Similar to the Roman légitime, however, the réserve was available to collaterals of the testator as well as the testator's ascendants and descendants. [18] With the passage of time, influenced by Roman law, the customary law began to recognize a paternal duty to provide for the maintenance of one's children and other descendants. This recognition culminated in the customary law's adoption of a form of légitime. The légitime adopted in these regions was available only to descendants of the decedent and only when the réserve was insufficient to adequately insure the descendant's welfare. [19] In its earliest stages, the adequacy of the réserve was determined on a case-by-case basis and when it was found inadequate, the légitime was set at an amount designed to allow the heir to live reasonably. As it developed, the customary law's légitime became fixed at one-half of an intestate portion and the determination of adequacy consisted of a comparison of the réserve to the légitime. If the latter was greater than the former, then the légitime was available. Like the Roman légitime, the customary law's légitime protected the heirs against inter vivos dispositions and was imposed without distinction between the various types of property. [20] Later, during the French revolution, the desire in France was to break up the large estates and prevent their reconstitution. The Law of 17 nivôse an II (January 6, 1794) was passed as a social tool to accomplish this end by drastically limiting the disposable portion (to one-tenth if there were linear heirs; one-sixth if only collaterals). This law forced the partition of the testator's estate into at least as many separate tracts as there were children in the family, thereby breaking up the estate and preventing its reconstruction. [21] Moreover, even the small disposable portion which remained could not be left to a single heir. This law had severe, adverse consequences and was soon liberalized, restoring to the testator a greater freedom of testation. [22]