[IULIANUS libro octauo digestorum. ] §10.2.51.prFundus, qui dotis nomine socero traditus fuerit, cum socer filium ex aliqua parte heredem instituerit, per arbitrum familiae erciscundae praecipi ita debet, ut ea causa filii sit, in qua futura esset, si dos per praeceptionem legata fuisset.
[JULIANUS, from the eighth book of the Digests.] A tract of land which was delivered to a father-in-law under the name of a dowry, when the father-in-law has appointed his son as heir for some part, must be pre-taken through the arbiter of the partition of an inheritance in such a way that the position of the son in this matter is what it would have been if the dowry had been bequeathed by pre-taking.
quare fructus post litem contestatam percepti ad eum redigendi sunt habita ratione impensarum: qui uero ante litem contestatam percepti fuerint, aequaliter ad omnes heredes pertinebunt.
Therefore, the fruits gathered after the joinder of issue must be restored to him, taking into account the expenses; but those gathered before the joinder of issue will belong equally to all the heirs.
et impensarum ratio haberi debet, quia nullus casus interuenire potest, qui hoc genus deductionis impediat.
And account must be taken of the expenses, because no event can occur to prevent this kind of deduction.
§10.2.51.1Si ego a te hereditatem petere uellem, tu mecum familiae erciscundae agere, ex causa utrique nostrum mos gerendus est: nam si ego totam hereditatem possideo et te ex parte dimidia heredem esse confiteor, sed a communione discedere uolo, impetrare debeo familiae erciscundae iudicium, quia aliter diuidi inter nos hereditas non potest.
If I should wish to petition for the inheritance from you, and you should wish to sue me for the partition of the inheritance, our wishes must be complied with according to the circumstances of the case: for if I possess the entire inheritance and confess that you are heir to a half share, but I wish to depart from the co-ownership, I ought to obtain the judgment for the partition of the inheritance, because otherwise the inheritance cannot be divided between us.
item si tu iustam causam habes, propter quam per hereditatis petitionem potius quam familiae erciscundae iudicium negotium distrahere uelis, tibi quoque permittendum erit hereditatem petere: nam quaedam ueniunt in hereditatis petitionem, quae in familiae erciscundae iudicio non deducuntur: ueluti si ego debitor hereditarius sim, iudicio familiae erciscundae non consequeris id quod defuncto debui, per hereditatis petitionem consequeris.
Likewise, if you have a just cause for wishing to settle the business through the petition for inheritance rather than through the judgment for the partition of the inheritance, you also must be allowed to petition for the inheritance: for certain things enter into the petition for inheritance which are not brought into the judgment for the partition of the inheritance; as for example, if I am a debtor to the inheritance, you will not obtain what I owed to the deceased through the judgment for the partition of the inheritance, but you will obtain it through the petition for inheritance.