'Nemo ex suo delicto meliorem suam condicionem facere potest' : Kränkungen der Testierfreiheit des Erblassers – englisches im Vergleich zum kontinentaleuropäischen Recht ('Nemo ex Suo Delicto Meliorem Suam Condicionem Facere Potest': Infringement of a Testator's Freedom of Testation on the Part of the Heir – The English and Continental Approaches Compared)

Civilian codifications recognize a number of situations in which an heir is “unworthy to inherit” because he is guilty of a serious interference with the testator’s freedom of testation: he kills the testator, unlawfully prevents him from making or revoking a will, induces him, by fraud or threat, to make or revoke a will, forges or suppresses a will, etc. The present article asks how English law (which does not know the concept of “unworthiness to inherit”) deals with these situations, and it compares the solutions and the arguments advanced to arrive at these solutions, in English law and in the continental codes. It is argued that the Latin maxim “nemo ex suo delicto meliorem suam condicionem facere potest” provides an alternative model to the notion of “unworthiness to inherit” that is both intellectually consistent and practically satisfactory. Please note that this is an article published in German