Succession Law, Practice and Society in Europe across the Centuries

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. The Right of Troncalidad in Castilian Inheritance Law in the High Middle Ages

   • Manuel A. Bermejo Castrillo

   Pages 1-17

3. Family Succession Wars: Succession Norms and Practices in Medieval and Modern Catalonia

   • Tünde Mikes, Tomàs de Montagut

   Pages 19-75

4. Actiones Hereditariae. Claims in Favour of, and Against Heirs in Medieval Ius Commune

   • J. H. Dondorp

   Pages 77-104

5. The Ius Decretalium and the Development of the Law of Succession in Medieval Europe. Some Examples from Denmark and Sweden (XII–XIII C.)

   • Orazio Condorelli

   Pages 105-147

6. Testamentary Freedom in Law and Practice in Medieval Sweden: Conflicts and Coexistence

   • Mia Korpiola

   Pages 149-165

7. The Evolution of the Scots Law and Practice of Succession: 1300–2000

   • Ilya Kotlyar

   Pages 167-206

8. Women’s Succession from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era

   • Loredana Garlati

   Pages 207-230

9. A Coffer for the Will

   • Alessandra Bassani

   Pages 231-247

10. Materia Est Valde Periculosa: Interpreting Testaments in Quattrocento Florence

    • Thomas Kuehn

    Pages 249-270

11. Disinheritance of Children for Lack of Parental Consent to the Marriage in the Ius Commune and Early Modern Scholastic Traditions

    • Giovanni Chiodi, Wim Decock

    Pages 271-335

12. Quidquid ex Testamento Petunt Scriptum Heredem Convenire Debent. Initial Comments on the Inheritance Transactio from the Ius Commune to the Early Modern Period

    • Sara Parini Vincenti

    Pages 337-357

13. Between Practice and Theory: Succession Law According to Jacques Cujas (1522–1590)

    • Xavier Prévost

    Pages 359-379

14. A Difficult Legacy. Initial Comments on the Inheritance Rights of Filii Clericorum in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

    • Stefania T. Salvi

    Pages 381-416

15. Consilia and Dynastic Successions in Modern Europe

    • Chiara Valsecchi

    Pages 417-472

16. Gift Mortis Causa in the Ius Commune: Contract and Last Will

    • Andrea Massironi

    Pages 473-516

17. Towards a Ius Commune Europaeum on Successions and Testament? The 17th Century Decisiones Rotae Romanae

    • Maria Gigliola di Renzo Villata

    Pages 517-547

18. Intestate Succession Between Doctrine and Roman Rota Case Law in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

    • Angela Santangelo Cordani

    Pages 549-566

19. Royal Successions. A Special Law for the Inheritance of Power?

    • Mathias Schmoeckel

    Pages 567-588

20. The Difficult Road to Harmonization of French Succession Law

    • Olivier Descamps

    Pages 589-609

This book presents a broad overview of succession law, encompassing aspects of family law, testamentary law and legal history. It examines society and legal practice in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present from both a legal and a sociological perspective. The contributing authors investigate various aspects of succession law that have not yet been thoroughly examined by legal historians, and in doing so they not only add to our knowledge of past succession law but also provide a valuable key to interpreting and understanding current European succession law.

Readers can explore such issues as the importance of a father’s permission to marry in relation to disinheritance, as well as inheritance transactions and private, dynastic and cross-border successions. Further themes addressed by the expert contributors include women’s inheritance rights, the laws of succession for the prince in legal consulting, and succession in the Rota Romana’s jurisprudence.

• European Succession Law
• Family Law
• Legal History
• Testamentary Law
• Inheritance in Europe
• Family Succession Wars
• Development of the Law of Succession in Medieval Europe
• Succession Law according to Jacques Cujas
• lack of father's permission to marry as cause for disinheritance
• Consilia and Dynastic succession in Modern Europe
• Women’s inheritance rights in Liberal Italy

“Maria Gigliola di Renzo Villata has masterfully edited an impressive work … . this volume aims to attract a wide audience, which it will surely succeed in doing. … This collection of chapters is clearly a marked improvement on our understanding … . Overall, Succession Law, Practice and Society in Europe across the Centuries is a thoughtful and well-argued collection that has much to offer and will no doubt become essential reading for anyone interested in succession law.” (Matthew J. Cleary, American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 61 (3), September, 2021)

• Department of Private Law and Legal History, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

  Maria Gigliola di Renzo Villata

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