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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.1.18.pr-28.1.18.1

Capacity of Interdicted Persons and Convicted Libelers

Passage 4108 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the limitation of testamentary capacity and witness eligibility of a person interdicted from managing property, the validity of their prior testaments, and the disqualification of testation for those convicted of libelous poetry.

[ULPIANUS libro primo ad Sabinum. ] §28.1.18.prIs cui lege bonis interdictum est testamentum facere non potest et, si fecerit, ipso iure non ualet: quod tamen interdictione uetustius habuerit testamentum, hoc ualebit.
[ULPIANUS, in the first book on Sabinus.] A person who has been interdicted by law from managing his property cannot make a testament, and if he does make one, it is void by operation of law; however, any testament that he had already made prior to the interdiction shall be valid.
merito ergo nec testis ad testamentum adhiberi poterit, cum neque testamenti factionem habeat.
Consequently, he cannot even be employed as a witness to a testament, since he does not possess the capacity to make a testament.
§28.1.18.1Si quis ob carmen famosum damnetur, senatus consulto expressum est, ut intestabilis sit: ergo nec testamentum facere poterit nec ad testamentum adhiberi.
If anyone is condemned on account of a libelous poem, it is expressly provided by a decree of the senate that he shall be disqualified from testation; therefore, he can neither make a testament nor be employed as a witness to a testament.

Notes

  1. §28.1.18.prcui lege bonis interdictum est — interdictum est is an impersonal passive. The verb interdicere takes a dative (the person) and an ablative (the thing prohibited), here represented by the relative pronoun cui (dative) and bonis (ablative of separation). It means 'to whom it has been forbidden by law to manage his property.'
  2. §28.1.18.prquod tamen interdictione uetustius habuerit testamentum, hoc ualebit — The noun testamentum modified by the relative pronoun quod is incorporated into the relative clause and is referred back to by the demonstrative hoc in the main clause (incorporation of the antecedent). uetustius is a comparative adjective (neuter accusative singular) modifying testamentum, with the ablative interdictione expressing the standard of comparison: 'a testament older than the interdiction.'
  3. §28.1.18.1intestabilis — Although historically meaning 'disqualified from acting as a witness (testis),' here, pursuant to the senatus consultum, it denotes a comprehensive loss of testamentary capacity, meaning both the inability to act as a witness to another's testament and the inability to make one's own.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.1.18.pr-28.1.18.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.1.18.pr-28.1.18.1

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