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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.4.24.pr

Seller Inheriting from Legatee and Action on Sale

Passage 2722 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Labeo argues that if a legatee makes the seller of an inheritance his heir before receiving the legacy from the buyer, the seller can rightly bring an action on the sale to enforce the performance of that legacy, and it makes no difference whether the claim was a legacy or a general debt.

[LABEO libro quarto posteriorum a IAUOLENO epitomatorum. ]
[LABEO, Epitomes of the Posthumous Works by JAVOLENUS, book 4.] You sold the inheritance of Cornelius.
§18.4.24.prHereditatem Cornelii uendidisti: deinde Attius, cui a te herede Cornelius legauerat, priusquam legatum ab emptore perciperet, te fecit heredem: recte puto ex uendito te acturum ut tibi praestetur, quia ideo eo minus hereditas uenierit, ut id legatum praestaret emptor, nec quicquam intersit, utrum Attio, qui te heredem fecerit, pecunia debita sit, an⁷ legatario.
Subsequently, Attius, to whom Cornelius had bequeathed a legacy to be paid by you as heir, made you his heir before he received the legacy from the buyer. I think you can rightly bring an action on the sale to have it performed to you, because the inheritance was sold for so much less for the very purpose of the buyer performing that legacy; nor does it make any difference whether money was owed to Attius, who made you his heir, or whether he was a legatee.

Notes

  1. §18.4.24.pra te herede — Meaning "from you as heir". In Roman testaments, a legacy (legatum) was often imposed on the heir (heres) to be paid to the legatee (preceded by a/ab + heir), thus indicating the source of the obligation.
  2. §18.4.24.prex uendito te acturum — te acturum [esse] is an accusative with infinitive construction depending on puto, with acturum being the future active participle of ago (to bring an action). ex uendito means "on the sale" (by the actio ex uendito), referring to the seller's contractual remedy.
  3. §18.4.24.pruenierit — Subjunctive perfect of ueneo (to be sold), not venio (to come). Together with the preceding eo minus (by so much less), it forms a causal clause stating that "the inheritance was sold for so much less".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.4.24.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.4.24.pr

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