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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §26.3.5.pr

Magistrates' Duty of Security and Liability in Tutor Confirmation

Passage 3785 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the magistrates' duty to demand security when confirming tutors appointed by an uncle who lacked proper authority, and the magistrates' secondary liability in case of the tutors' insolvency.

[PAPINIANUS libro undecimo quaestionum. ] §26.3.5.prTutores a patruo testamento datos iussit praetor magistratus confirmare: hi cautionem quoque accipere debuerunt nec uoluntas eius, qui tutorem dare non potuit, neglegentiam magistratuum excusat.
[PAPINIANUS, from the eleventh book of Questions.] The praetor ordered the magistrates to confirm the tutors given by an uncle in his will; these magistrates ought also to have accepted security, nor does the will of him who could not appoint a tutor excuse the negligence of the magistrates.
denique praetor non ante decretum interponere potest quam per inquisitionem idoneis pronuntiatis.
Indeed, the praetor cannot interpose his decree until they have been pronounced suitable by an inquiry.
unde sequitur, ut, si tutelae tempore soluendo non fuerunt, in id, quod de bonis eorum seruari non possit, contra magistratus actio decernatur.
Hence it follows that, if at the time of the guardianship they were not solvent, an action is granted against the magistrates for that which could not be recovered from the tutors' property.

Notes

  1. §26.3.5.prhi — The demonstrative pronoun hi refers to the preceding magistratus (magistrates). It indicates that the obligation to demand and receive security (cautio) for safeguarding the ward's property lies with the magistrates who confirm them, rather than the newly appointed tutors.
  2. §26.3.5.prnon ante... quam... — A correlative construction non ante ... quam ... (not before ... than ...), meaning 'not ... until ...'. Here it states that the praetor cannot issue a decree until the condition expressed by the ablative absolute per inquisitionem idoneis pronuntiatis (they having been pronounced suitable through an inquiry) is fulfilled.
  3. §26.3.5.prsoluendo non fuerunt — The phrase soluendo esse is a legal idiom using the dative of the gerundive, meaning 'to be solvent' (literally, 'to be for paying'). Here, in the past negative, it indicates that the tutors were insolvent during the period of the guardianship.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §26.3.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:26.3.5.pr

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