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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.2.32.pr

Heir and Tenant Liabilities upon the Bequest of Leased Land

Passage 2853 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The fragment discusses the obligations and rights of action between an heir and a tenant when a landlord dies after leasing land and bequeathing it to a third party, drawing an analogy to a case of selling and then bequeathing an object.

[IULIANUS libro quarto ex Minicio. ] §19.2.32.prQui fundum colendum in plures annos locauerat, decessit et eum fundum legauit.
[JULIANUS, from the fourth book on Minicius.] A person who had leased a tract of land for cultivation for several years died and bequeathed that land.
Cassius negauit posse cogi colonum, ut eum fundum coleret, quia nihil heredis interesset.
Cassius denied that the tenant could be compelled to cultivate that land, because the heir had no interest in it.
quod si colonus uellet colere et ab eo, cui legatus esset fundus, prohiberetur, cum herede actionem colonum habere: et hoc detrimentum ad heredem pertinere: sicuti si quis rem, quam uendidisset nec dum tradidisset, alii legasset, heres eius emptori et legatario esset obligatus.
But if the tenant wished to cultivate it and was prevented by the person to whom the land had been bequeathed, the tenant would have an action against the heir; and this loss would fall upon the heir. Just as if someone had bequeathed to another a thing which he had sold but not yet delivered, his heir would be bound both to the buyer and to the legatee.

Notes

  1. 19.2.32.prheredis interesset — The impersonal verb interesse takes the genitive of the person concerned (heredis) to mean 'it is of interest/importance to.' Here, combined with the adverbial neuter pronoun nihil, it means 'the heir has no interest or benefit in it.'
  2. 19.2.32.prquod si colonus uellet ... habere — The indirect speech (Oratio Obliqua) introduced by Cassius negauit continues here; habere and pertinere are infinitives in accusative-and-infinitive clauses, with colonum as the subject accusative. The imperfect subjunctives (uellet, prohiberetur) in the quod si clause are due to being subordinate clauses within indirect speech.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.2.32.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.2.32.pr

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