KANT E O DIREITO DAS SUCESSÕES

KANT AND THE INHERITANCE RIGHTS

Abstract

This paper analyzes the inheritance rights in Kant's philosophy of right. It seeks to show how and why, in Kant's system of rights, the inheritance right can only be founded on the testament, understood as expression of an autonomous will. As a consequence of this centrality of the testament, the historical process of development of intestate succession, through the positivation of mores, kinship relations and group interests, appears as something arbitrary and unrelated to the right. Thus, intestate succession can only be justified when articulated in an accessory manner with testamentary succession. Finally, we analyze the difficulty of this theoretical scheme in explaining the transmission of inheritance through the testament, which leads to the need to postulate an “ideal acquisition” as an idea of pure reason.