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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.2.11.pr

Continuity of Ownership and Administration for Sui Heredes

Passage 4132 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains that in the case of self-successors (heredes sui), because they are deemed owners in a sense even during the father's lifetime, their succession is a continuity of ownership rather than a new acquisition, representing merely the commencement of free administration.

[PAULUS libro secundo ad Sabinum. ] §28.2.11.prIn suis heredibus euidentius apparet continuationem dominii eo rem perducere, ut nulla uideatur hereditas fuisse, quasi olim hi domini essent, qui etiam uiuo patre quodammodo domini existimantur.
[PAULUS, Book 2 on Sabinus.] In the case of self-successors, it appears more clearly that the continuity of ownership leads to the result that no inheritance seems to have taken place, as if those who even during the father's lifetime are in a certain sense deemed owners had already been owners from of old.
unde etiam filius familias appellatur sicut pater familias, sola nota hac adiecta, per quam distinguitur genitor ab eo qui genitus sit.
Hence, he is also called a son of the family just as there is a father of the family, with only this mark added, by which the begetter is distinguished from the begotten.
itaque post mortem patris non hereditatem percipere uidentur, sed magis liberam bonorum administrationem consequuntur.
Therefore, after the death of the father, they are not seen to receive an inheritance, but rather they acquire the free administration of the property.
hac ex causa licet non sint heredes instituti, domini sunt: nec obstat, quod licet eos exheredare, quod et occidere licebat.
For this reason, although they have not been appointed heirs, they are owners; nor is it an obstacle that it is permitted to disinherit them, since it was also permitted to kill them.

Notes

  1. §28.2.11.prIn suis heredibus — Refers to "self-successors" (heredes sui), the immediate descendants who automatically become heirs and independent patres familias upon the death of the deceased.
  2. §28.2.11.preo rem perducere, ut — The adverb eo ("to that point") and ut (introducing a consecutive clause) are used correlatively to mean "brings the matter to such a point that...".
  3. §28.2.11.prnec obstat, quod — The quod-clause functions as a noun clause subject to the impersonal verb obstat ("stands in the way"), forming the idiomatic expression "nor does the fact that... stand in the way".
  4. §28.2.11.prquod et occidere licebat — The second quod is interpreted as a causal conjunction ("since / because"), explaining why the right to disinherit does not negate their essential status as owners (domini), by drawing an analogy to the historical right to kill them.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.2.11.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.2.11.pr

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