[51]
“LawWhenever a man dies without making a will, if he leaves
female children his estate shall go with them, but if not, the persons
herein mentioned shall be entitled to his property: if there be brothers by
the same father, and if there be lawfully born sons of brothers, they shall
take the share of the father. But if there are no brothers or sons of
brothers, their descendants shall inherit it in like manner; but males and
the sons of males shall take precedence, if they are of the same ancestors,
even though they be more remote of kin.1 If there are
no relatives on the father's side within the degree of children of cousins,
those on the mother's side shall inherit in like manner. But if there shall
be no relatives on either side within the degree mentioned, the nearest of
kin on the father's side shall inherit. But no illegitimate child of either
sex shall have the right of succession either to religious rites or civic
privileges, from the time of the archonship of Eucleides.2”
1 The text is not wholly certain, and the precise meaning is therefore open to debate. The law is quoted also in Isaeus 7.20, where the note of Wyse should be consulted. See also Meier and Schömann, Der Attisch Process, p. 586, and Savage, The Athenian Family, pp. 128 ff.
2 This was in 403 B.C.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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