In the realization of these purposes, lies the cultural
importance of the law of inheritance. On the socialistic
side (in an effort to further or essentially restrict the
law of inheritance) lies the danger of imperiling the
advance in civilization attained by means of the law
of inheritance. It is not to be asserted, however, that
legislative restrictions cannot and should not govern
natural succession of relatives, or succession by will;
the former according to degree, and the latter according
to amount.
Restrictions in the law of inheritance may appropri-
ately be made by means of inheritance taxes which
establish the interest of the community in relation to
or comparison with the interest of succession; and
allow the interest of society to prevail in those cases in
which legislation regards the interest of succession (as
in the case of an extraneous successor) as no longer
desirable of complete protection.
The interest of succession may be based: —

(a) On succession to particular things, ownership
of particular rights, or the burden of particular debts.
206 SCIENCE OF LAW

In other words inheritance may follow only certain
interests protected before death, and presently pro-
tected in favor of the legal successors of the dead; or

(6) Succession may be based on the totality of
interests of the dead (excluding purely personal interests).
In thi6 case the successor assumes the entire legal sphere
of the dead person as it exists at death, as a single com-
prehensive interest.
The first interest (a) corresponds to singular succession
(successio in singulas res, particular succession, Sonder-
nachfolge). This species of succession may also arise
among living persons, as in the case of assignment or
cession (sec. 22, supra), and also tradition (sec. 20, V., 2,
supra).
