Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.1.29.pr

Recovery of Price by Legatee Who Unknowingly Bought Legacy

Passage 2795 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text rules that a legatee who bought a conditionally bequeathed thing from the heir without knowing of the legacy can recover the price through the action on purchase, as their possession is based on sale, not on the legacy.

[IDEM libro quarto ex Minicio. ] §19.1.29.prCui res sub condicione legata erat, is eam imprudens ab herede emit: actione ex empto poterit consequi emptor pretium, quia non ex causa legati rem habet.

[THE SAME, On Minicius, Book IV.] A person to whom a thing had been legacyed under a condition bought it, unaware of this fact, from the heir: the buyer will be able to recover the price by the action on purchase, because he does not hold the thing by virtue of the legacy.

Notes

19.1.29.primprudens — A predicative adjective agreeing in the nominative with the subject `is` (the antecedent of `cui`), meaning 'unaware' or 'ignorant [of the fact that the thing had been bequeathed to him]'.
19.1.29.prex causa legati — The noun `causa` here refers to the 'legal ground' or 'title' of acquisition. Hence, the phrase means 'by virtue of the legacy' (i.e., as a gratuitous title of acquisition, as opposed to the onerous title of sale).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.1.29.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.1.29.pr

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