Appendix 2. (242).
The Austrian code contains the following paragraphs derived from the principle [that the division of common goods must respect the individual's right]. They grant an individual the faculty of imposing, as it were, the law on all the other members. But this law, imposed by a single member on the others, concerns the modality of rights, not the rights themselves, and is an exercise of the right of jural claim.
| §807. An inventory must be compiled if, among several co-heirs, some simply declare themselves heirs, and others, or even only one, declare themselves heirs subject to the reservation of the previously mentioned legal benefit. The declaration about possession of an inheritance subject to this reservation is considered fundamental for probate. |
This article clearly presupposes that, according to rational Right, all the co-heirs have to give way to the requirement of a single heir, when he is simply requesting a modality that better safeguards his right. If their own right suffers some inconvenience and expense in the case under discussion, this is compensated by greater certainty that their acceptance of the inheritance does not make them debtors rather than creditors. Furthermore, pure rational Right allows the co-heirs to oppose the demands of the individual member if the safeguard he requests could be shown to be superfluous and unreasonable, or the inconvenience and cost he has caused the members exceeded in value the certainty obtained through use of the requested safeguard.
| §813. The heir, or executor of the inheritance, is free to request the publication of a decree in order to know the state of the debts. This decree will convoke all the creditors within a fixed time, dependent on circumstances, so that they can present and demonstrate their rights; payment to them will be suspended until the time limit has passed. |
This disposition also is founded on the same principle of rational Right by which an individual or member can impose on all the members of a society certain reasonable modalities necessary for granting each his own. All members must accept these modalities.
| §830. Every claimant can require accounts to be rendered or that the interest be divided. |
| §841. After dissolution of the communion, a majority vote has no value in the division of what is held in common. The division must be made in such a way that everyone involved is satisfied. If the votes are not unanimous, the decision must be made by drawing lots, or by an arbitrator, or by a judge in the case that all unanimously disagree with every other way of deciding. |
| §840. Ordinarily, useful fruits must be divided according to their nature. If this way of doing things is impossible, each claimant can require that everything be sold by public auction. |
| §843. When what is common is indivisible or cannot be divided without significant reduction of its value, it must be sold by public auction and the price divided among the claimants, even when only one claimant requires this. |
All these dispositions are founded in the principle that the majority must adapt to the wishes of a single member if he requires from them certain modalities which he believes helpful to the better guarantee of his rights, and without harm to others. This is precisely a function of the right of jural claim.