BENEFICIUM ABSTINENDI

beneficium abstinendi (ben-[schwa]-fish-ee-[schwa]m ab-sti-nen-dI). [Latin “privilege of abstaining”] Roman law. The right of an heir to refuse an inheritance and thus avoid liability for the testator’s debts. “[T]hese heirs came also to be protected by the praetor, viz. by the jus or beneficium abstinendi. Provided they took care not to act as heir in any […]