Chapter XVI. is headed: ‘How much may be conferred by a father upon the

sons of a deceased son during the lives of the other sons, their uncles.’ The text is as follows:--

Licet cuique post mortem filii quantum ipsi deberetur si viveret, ejus filio nepoti conferre.

It is lawful to every one after the death of a son to confer upon a grandson, the son of that son, whatever would have been due to the son had he lived.

This seems to be a special permission to the grandfather during his life to mitigate the injustice of the customary rule excluding grandchildren from succession by representation in their deceased parent’s property.

If under Scanian custom the children of a dead _filiusfamilias_ had succeeded by right to their father’s property, this special permission would not have been needed. But it seems to be clear that no such right of succession was recognised by ancient custom.