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P. 97
mean an aliquot part. Traces of this fanciful rcndcring
are found in subseqiient n.ritcm, beconiing howcvrr ver).
faint in lat,er times. Indeed this constniction does not
seem to have heen persisted in, thoiigh it may have had
some influence in moulding the iaw as it ult~imtely prevai-
led in the Northern Parliaments of Franre before the Ordi-
?lance of Louis XT ', in 1731.
It is to he collectcd froni the passages citecl from Cujas
an aut,hor of great aiithority, ivho nriote in the sisteenth
ccntuiy, that a donation was not revokcd hy the Iaw of
France unless il nrere "immensa-" or "immodica". He
puts the case of a man nrho, when childless gave a sisth of
hi8 property to his brother, and afterwards hnd a son,
and thcn in answer ta the proposition that Ilg thc Iaw "Si
unquarn" thc sori coiild ievokc the gift says :-
"Fallacia est iii propositionr; ncc eriiin est abrolut~ hoc
'C
veriim donationeiii filium postea siiacrptiiiii icvocarr; sed
'f.
itu distingiicndiini est;aut immensa est donatio,aut non,
"et aut mera est donntio, aut non; iiiirnensam donationem
"liberi postea siiscepti revocant; hic non fuit immeass,
"sed sextnntem tantum donavit". Cujncius, Opera Postu-
'<mal 9 Vol, :3lc. (cited at the Bar fiorn en cditiori piililishcd
in Naples, 17381.
Ciijas, thei.rfore,was of opinion thal the gift of a 3ixtli
part of thc donor's pmpcrty nrould not ho "imiicnsa". 1 t
was argucd that the aut,hority of Cujas is weakciicd ht.caii-
se he confused the lair, "Si unquani" with the Lex Falci-
dia. It is truc that he rcfrrs to the I.?x Falcidia in other
pasfiages! as hwring on his viciv of the Iaw "Si unquarn",
hut it is not at al1 likely tliat 50 grrat ii Iawyer \vi.oiil<l hava
heen in niiy confimion of ~nind with regard to t,liei.(i la~v~,
In Merlin. Rép, Vo. Donation, Sec. 7, tht: state of t,hr old
law iii ndverted to ss follows :-
Avant la promulgation de I'oidoiinaricr de 1731, on
" .
disputait bcauc«~ip sui. la question de savoir jusqu'oii de-
"vait s'étendre une donation pour qu'elle fat sujette à
"
&tre r6voqiiPc paisurvenanre d'eiifants,les uns voulaient