- Source
- Digesta Iustiniani Augusti. Mommsen, Theodor & Krueger, Paul, editors. Berlin: Weidmann, 1870.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.5.33.pr
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
In response to a query from Nesennius Apollinaris regarding whether a grandmother's expenses for maintaining her grandson can be deducted in the settlement of an action for management of affairs, Paulus answers that it depends on the factual circumstances rather than an absolute legal rule, and that deduction should be allowed under certain conditions.
[PAULUS libro primo quaestionum.]
[PAULUS, Questions, Book I]
Nesennius Apollinaris Iulio Paulo salutem. Auia nepotis sui negotia gessit: defunctis utrisque1 auiae heredes conueniebantur a nepotis heredibus negotiorum gestorum actione: reputabant2 heredes auiae alimenta praestita nepoti. respondebatur auiam iure pietatis de suo praestitisse: nec enim aut desiderasse, ut decernerentur alimenta, aut decreta essent. praeterea constitutum esse dicebatur, ut si mater aluisset, non posset alimenta, quae pietate cogente de suo praestitisset, repetere. ex contrario dicebatur tunc hoc recte dici, ut de suo aluisse mater probaretur: at in proposito auiam, quae negotia administrabat, uerisimile esse de re ipsius nepotis eum aluisse. tractatum est, numquid utroque patrimonio erogata uideantur. quaero quid tibi iustius uideatur. respondi: haec disceptatio in factum constitit:3 nam et illud, quod in matre constitutum est, non puto ita perpetuo obseruandum. quid enim si etiam protestata est se filium ideo alere, ut aut ipsum aut tutores eius conueniret? pone peregre patrem eius obisse et matrem, dum in patriam reuertitur, tam filium quam familiam eius exhibuisse: in qua specie etiam in ipsum pupillum negotiorum gestorum dandam actionem diuus Pius Antoninus constituit. igitur in re facti facilius putabo auiam uel heredes eius audiendos, si reputare uelint alimenta, maxime si etiam in ratione impensarum ea rettulisse auiam apparebit. illud nequaquam admittendum puto, ut de utroque patrimonio erogata uideantur.
Nesennius Apollinaris sends greetings to Julius Paulus. A grandmother managed the affairs of her grandson. Both having died, the heirs of the grandmother were sued by the heirs of the grandson by the action for management of affairs; the heirs of the grandmother sought to bring into account the maintenance provided to the grandson. The reply was made that the grandmother had provided it out of her own property by virtue of maternal affection; for she had neither requested that maintenance be decreed, nor had it been decreed. Furthermore, it was said to be established that, if a mother had maintained her child, she could not recover the maintenance which she had provided out of her own property under the impulse of affection. On the contrary, it was argued that this was correctly said only when the mother was proved to have maintained the child out of her own property; whereas, in the case proposed, it was probable that the grandmother, who was administering his affairs, had maintained him out of the grandson’s own property. It was discussed whether the expenses should be deemed to have been paid out of both patrimonies. I ask what seems more just to you. I replied: “This dispute depends on the facts; for I do not think that even the rule established in the case of a mother is to be observed so absolutely. For what if she even made a protestation that she was maintaining her son for the purpose of suing either him or his tutors? Suppose his father died abroad, and the mother, while returning to her country, maintained both her son and his household; in which case the deified Antoninus Pius decreed that an action for management of affairs should be granted even against the pupil himself. Therefore, on the facts, I think that the grandmother or her heirs should more readily be heard if they wish to bring the maintenance into account, especially if it appears that the grandmother had entered those expenses in her account of expenditures. On the other hand, I think that the opinion that the expenses should be deemed to have been paid out of both patrimonies is by no means to be admitted.”
- 3.5.33.prdefunctis utrisque
An ablative absolute construction consisting of the pronoun and participle in the ablative plural, indicating the preliminary fact of the death of both parties (the grandmother and the grandson) as a temporal or causal background.
- 3.5.33.prreputabant
Rather than its general sense of "to ponder" or "to think," the verb reputare is used here in a technical legal context of accounting in actions for management of affairs or guardianship, meaning "to bring into account," "to deduct," or "to set off" expenditures against a liability.
- 3.5.33.prin factum constitit
A technical legal expression signifying that the dispute "depends on a question of fact" or "rests on the factual circumstances," as opposed to being a pure question of law (in iure).