Opinion ID: 1113494
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Analysis of Early History

Text: Although the history of forced heirship in Roman, French and Spanish law is somewhat obscure, there are several general observations to be discerned from it. First, although restrictions on the testator's freedom of disposition were recognized in early Roman, French and Spanish laws, there was never an agreement among the various bodies of law regarding who the beneficiaries of these restrictions were. [25] This disagreement is, at least in part, a consequence of the varying purposes which these restrictive laws sought to achieve. In particular, in Rome, the falcidian portion was used to insure the instituted heir would enter the succession and continue the familia and the sacra, while the Roman légitime was used to compel a decedent to provide for certain close relations to whom the decedent was perceived as owing a moral duty. By contrast, the French légitime had the dual purposes of enforcing a perceived moral duty owed by the testator to certain close relations, as well as compelling the testator to provide for the maintenance and support of his descendants. [26] Finally, the purpose behind the French réserve differed wholly from the légitime under either Roman or French law, the réserve having for its object the continuation of family estates (although this purpose varied briefly when the réserve was used to break up large family estates). In addition to variations in the beneficiaries under each of these systems (which were based on the correlative variations in the purposes behind the limitations), the amount of the reserved portion has also varied. Moreover, the variations in the amount of the reserved portion are found not only between each of these societies but also within each of these societies. Importantly, this observation regarding the forced portion holds true not only for the early legal systems from which we derived our institution but also for Louisiana's system of forced heirship as well. [27] The laws regarding limitations on freedom of disposition have never been static. Rather, these laws have varied among as well as within each society based on the different mores of that society and the changes which it has undergone. Thus, it is easy for me to see that the people may have intended a change in our forced heirship system in 1974.