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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.6.45.pr

Recovery of Unretained Debt after Delivering an Inheritance

Passage 2021 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that if the seller of an inheritance delivers it to the buyer without retaining a debt owed to him by the deceased, he can recover the excess via a condictio.

[IAUOLENUS libro secundo ex Plautio. ] §12.6.45.prSi is, qui hereditatem uendidit et emptori tradidit, id, quod sibi mortuus debuerat, non retinuit, repetere poterit, quia plus debito solutum per condictionem recte recipietur.
[Iavolenus, in the second book on Plautius.] If a person who has sold an inheritance and delivered it to the purchaser did not retain what the deceased had owed to him, he will be able to recover it, because what was paid in excess of what was due will be rightfully recovered by a condictio.

Notes

  1. 12.6.45.prid, quod sibi mortuus debuerat, non retinuit — This refers to the situation where the seller of an inheritance did not deduct (retinere) the debt owed to him by the deceased (mortuus) when delivering the estate. Although merger (confusio) normally extinguishes the debt upon inheritance, in relation to the purchaser, the seller is entitled to retain the equivalent amount; failing to do so is treated as an overpayment (payment of what was not due).
  2. 12.6.45.prplus debito solutum — This refers to the portion of the delivered inheritance equivalent to the seller's claim which should have been deducted. The delivery of what did not need to be delivered is conceptualized as 'paid in excess of what was due'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.6.45.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.6.45.pr

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