Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.4.1.pr

Invalidity of Selling Inheritance of Living Person

Passage 2698 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author argues that the sale of the inheritance of a living or non-existent person is void because the object of the contract does not exist.

[POMPONIUS libro nono ad Sabinum. ] §18.4.1.prSi hereditas uenierit eius, qui uiuit aut nullus sit, nihil esse acti, quia in rerum natura non sit quod uenierit.
[POMPONIUS, on Sabinus, book 9.] If the inheritance of a person who is living or who does not exist should be sold, nothing is accomplished, because that which was sold does not exist in the nature of things.

Notes

  1. 18.4.1.prnihil esse acti — A construction of a partitive genitive consisting of the pronoun nihil (nothing) and acti, the genitive neuter singular of the perfect passive participle of agere (to do, transact). Literally "nothing of what has been done exists," meaning in a legal context that "the transaction is void" or "no legal act has been performed." It is expressed as an accusative with infinitive in indirect discourse, where a main verb of saying (e.g., aiunt) is implied.
  2. 18.4.1.prin rerum natura — Literally "in the nature of things," but in Roman law, it is a formulaic expression meaning "in physical existence," "in reality," or "in the world." It is used here in the context that the object of the sale does not exist, and thus there is no subject matter of the contract.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.4.1.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.4.1.pr

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