1. A method or form of accepting an inheritance by an heir who is appointed in a testament. • Cretion usu. had to be declared within 100 days from the date on which an heir received notice of the appointment.
“In the old law it was the practice to fix a time limit, usually of one hundred days, within which the heir was to make a formal acceptance, with the addition that if he failed to do so, he was to be disinherited and a substitute was to take the inheritance in his place. This formal acceptance was known as cretio from the Latin verb cernere — to decide. The practice had fallen into disuse before Justinian, who formally abolished it.” R.W. Lee, The Elements of Roman Law 199 (4th ed. 1956).
2. The period within which an heir might decide whether to accept an inheritance.
— Also termed (in Latin) cretio (kree-shee-oh). — cretionary (kree-sh[schwa]n-er-ee), adj.
