The ‘Votum Captandae Mortis’ and Its Relevance in Roman Law

The paper focuses primarily on the votum captandae mortis: that is to say the despicable hope of death of the de cuius which – according to the traditional thinking – Roman jurists believed would have been induced by the agreements as to succession. After making a mention of the problematic profiles of this ratio today, the research dwells on the few ancient sources that associate agreements as to succession with a violation of the boni mores, trying to show that the declarations of invalidity of the agreements de hereditate viventis didn’t steam from the mere ‘votum corvinum’.