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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.1.8.pr-28.1.8.4

Testamentary Capacity of Captives and Convicts

Passage 4098 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Gaius discusses the validity of testaments made by captives of enemies, those interdicted from water and fire, deportees, releasees, and those condemned to severe punishments.

[GAIUS libro septimo decimo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §28.1.8.prEius qui apud hostes est testamentum quod ibi fecit non ualet, quamuis redierit.
[GAIUS, in the seventeenth book on the provincial edict.] The testament which one who is in the hands of the enemy has made there is not valid, even though he should return.
§28.1.8.1Si cui aqua et igni interdictum sit, eius nec illud testamentum ualet quod ante fecit nec id quod postea fecerit: bona quoque, quae tunc habuit cum damnaretur, publicabuntur aut, si non uideantur lucrosa, creditoribus concedentur.
If anyone is interdicted from water and fire, neither that testament which he made before nor that which he makes afterwards is valid; his goods also, which he had at the time he was condemned, shall be confiscated, or, if they do not appear to be profitable, shall be granted to his creditors.
§28.1.8.2In insulam deportati in eadem causa sunt:
Those deported to an island are in the same position.
§28.1.8.3Sed relegati in insulam et quibus terra Italica et sua prouincia interdicitur testamenti faciendi ius retinent.
But those relegated to an island and those who are interdicted from Italian soil and their own province retain the right to make a testament.
H §28.1.8.4i uero, qui ad ferrum aut ad bestias aut in metallum damnantur, libertatem perdunt bonaque eorum publicantur: unde apparet amittere eos testamenti factionem.
T hese, however, who are condemned to the sword, to wild beasts, or to the mines, lose their liberty, and their goods are confiscated; whence it is apparent that they lose the capacity to make a testament.

Notes

  1. §28.1.8.1Si cui aqua et igni interdictum sit — The verb `interdicere` takes the ablative of the thing prohibited (`aqua et igni` "water and fire") and the dative of the person affected (`cui` "to whom"). In the passive, it forms an impersonal construction, meaning "if anyone is interdicted from water and fire."
  2. §28.1.8.4amittere eos testamenti factionem — An accusative-with-infinitive construction acting as the subject of the impersonal verb `apparet` ("it is apparent"). Here, `eos` is the subject accusative of the infinitive `amittere`, and `testamenti factionem` ("the capacity to make a testament") is its object.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.1.8.pr-28.1.8.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.1.8.pr-28.1.8.4

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