in the civil law, with us ordinarily called *disinheriting*, is the father's excluding his sons from inheriting his estate.

There are 14 causes of exheredation, expressed in Justinian's Novellæ; without some one of which causes, he decrees the exheredation null, and the testament insufficient, as the civilians call it. Indeed, by the ancient Roman law, the father might pronounce exheredation without any cause; but the rigour of this law was restrained and moderated by Justinian.