TESTAMENTELE PRIVILEGIATE ÎN DREPTUL CIVIL ROMÂN ȘI COMPARAT

Privileged wills are sometimes viewed as an anachronism. In civil law systems such as Romania or France, the freedom of disposition is limited by certain institutions (e.g. the hereditary reserve and the forced heirship), while this is not the case in common law jurisdictions. Nevertheless, civil and common law systems inherited the Roman notion that in some extraordinary circumstances the testator should be allowed to bypass the rigid formalities required for the validity of a will. In turn, civil law systems view such privileged wills as a rather simplified version of the notarial form, while English law fully lifts the written requirement for these cases. The purpose of the current article is to prove the enduring relevance of privileged wills in the contemporary world through an analysis of their origins, current regulation and prospects.