Death gratuity for soldiers who died in service?

[Michael Kerr]

Richard Alston in his book Soldier & Society in Roman Egypt covers some legal issues & problems arising from peregrine families having no legal status to inherit because technically they weren't legally recognised as Roman citizens until the soldier completed his service to the army.

There were complicated rules as to who could inherit what and what proportion of the estate could be given to whom. There was also a general principle limiting inheritance to those of the same citizenship status as the testator. All these rules were waived. The first such privileges we know of were granted by Julius Caesar who allowed all the bequests of his soldiers to stand. The procedure was probably followed by generals both before and after Caesar but Trajan felt it necessary to reinforce the ruling.Gaius states that soldiers were also permitted to institute peregrini, foreigners, as heirs, and the privilege was extended by Hadrian in AD 119 so that a soldier was not only able to bequeath his property to a peregrinus but also a peregrine child could establish a legal claim to the property of the soldier-father even if the father had died intestate.The kin of the soldier were also able to claim his property. The Gnomon of the Idios Logos, a series of administrative and legal rules from Egypt collected as a reminder of procedures, contains clauses to do with the military will. In our earliest version, dating from the mid-first century AD, Clause 34 appears to allow intestate succession to relatives and children, provided they were of the same group, and if there were no claimants, the property would revert to the camp.

Hope this helps

Regards
Michael Kerr