Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §22.5.14.pr

Incompetence of Adulterers as Testamentary Witnesses

Passage 3267 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinian addresses the question of whether a person condemned for adultery can act as a witness to a will, concluding that such a will is invalid under both civil and praetorian law, preventing any entry into inheritance or grant of possession of goods.

[IDEM libro singulari de adulteriis. ] §22.5.14.prScio quidem tractatum esse, an ad testamentum faciendum adhiberi possit adulterii damnatus: et sane iuste interdicetur.
[BY THE SAME AUTHOR, in his single book On Adulteries.] I know indeed that it has been discussed whether a person condemned for adultery can be employed for the making of a will; and indeed he will be justly excluded.
existimo ergo neque iure ciuili testamentum ualere, ad quod huiusmodi testis processit, neque iure praetorio, quod ius ciuile subsequitur, ut neque hereditas adiri neque bonorum possessio dari possit.
Therefore, I think that a will does not have validity either under the civil law, if a witness of this kind came forward for it, or under the praetorian law, which follows the civil law, so that neither can the inheritance be entered upon nor can the possession of goods be granted.

Notes

  1. §22.5.14.pradulterii — A genitive of charge (or crime) depending on the participle damnatus, indicating the crime for which the person was condemned ("condemned for adultery").
  2. §22.5.14.prquod ius ciuile subsequitur — The subject is the relative pronoun quod (whose antecedent is ius praetorium), and ius ciuile is the accusative object of the deponent verb subsequitur. It describes how the praetorian law follows and supplements the civil law.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §22.5.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:22.5.14.pr

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