Querela inofficiosi testamenti in Byzantine Law

The querela inofficiosi testamenti is attested in Byzantine legal compilations, where provisions of Roman law were rendered into Greek. However, non-normative sources also provide insight into how this legal mechanism operated in practice. One of the most significant principles of testamentary law—namely, the inheritance rights of the testator’s closest blood relatives—is clearly reflected in multiple cases from the dossier of Demetrios Chomatenos, particularly those involving disputes over the annulment of wills. In such instances, the mandatory share of the inheritance due to close relatives represented a constraint on the testator’s freedom of disposition. Individuals who are not in blood relation with the testator but are designated as heirs were known as exotika prosopa. The testator’s close blood relatives frequently initiated legal action against them, seeking the annulment of the will. Common circumstances in which outsiders were favored over immediate family included the migration of relatives, their minority, large or complex family structures, or marriages without offspring.