- 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-lat1:5.4.5.pr-5.4.5.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The text discusses how an existing son or an outside heir can accept an inheritance when the pregnancy status of a woman is uncertain, and whether an heir who does not know their exact share can validly accept the inheritance.
[PAULUS libro septimo decimo ad Plautium.]
[PAULUS libro septimo decimo ad Plautium.]
Illud sciendum est, si mulier praegnans non sit, existimetur autem praegnans esse, interim filium heredem esse ex asse,1 quamquam ignoret se ex asse heredem esse.
It must be known that if a woman is not pregnant, but is thought to be pregnant, in the meantime the son is heir to the whole estate, although he may not know that he is heir to the whole estate.
Idem est in extraneo,2 si ex certa portione heres institutus sit, ex reliqua postumi. quod si forte ita institutio facta est: 'quotcumque mihi nati erunt et Lucius Titius pro uirilibus portionibus heredes mihi sunto', habebit haesitationem, numquid adire non possit, atque qui3 in testamento portionem suam nescit. sed utilius est posse eum adire qui nescit portionem, si cetera, quae oportet eum scire, non ignoret.
The same applies to an outside heir, if he has been instituted heir for a certain share, and posthumous children for the remainder. But if by chance the institution was made thus: ‘Let whoever shall be born to me and Lucius Titius be my heirs in equal shares,’ it will raise a doubt whether he cannot enter upon the inheritance, like one who does not know his share in a testament. But it is more practical that he who does not know his share can enter upon the inheritance, if he is not ignorant of the other things which he ought to know.
- 5.4.5.prex asse
The phrase "ex asse" (literally, "from an as") uses the basic unit of Roman weight and currency (the as, consisting of 12 unciae) to represent the entirety of an estate; hence, "heres ex asse" means a sole heir to the entire estate.
- 5.4.5.1extraneo
In Roman law, an "outside heir" (extraneus heres) refers to an heir who was not under the direct paternal power (patria potestas) of the deceased. Unlike a "household heir" (suus heres), who becomes an heir automatically, an outside heir must actively perform an act of entry (aditio) to accept the inheritance.
- 5.4.5.1atque qui
Here, atque functions as a comparative conjunction ("just as", "like"), forming an elliptical construction: atque [is] qui ... nescit ("like one who does not know [his share] in a testament").