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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.3.5.pr

Rupture by a Posthumous Child under Conditional Succession

Passage 4159 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the rupture of the testamentary degree by a posthumous child, with reference to Julian, when an heir is instituted conditionally or a substitute is designated.

[IDEM libro tertio ad Sabinum. ]
[THE SAME from the third book on Sabinus.]\n\nFor even if someone is instituted as heir under a condition, by whom a posthumous child has not been disinherited, nevertheless, while the condition is pending, the degree is ruptured, as Julian also wrote.
§28.3.5.prNam et si sub condicione sit heres institutus quis, a quo postumus non est exheredatus, tamen pendente condicione rumpitur gradus, ut et Iulianus scripsit: sed et si sit ei substitutus quis, etiam deficiente condicione primi gradus non admittetur substitutus, a quo scilicet postumus exheredatus non est.
But even if someone has been substituted for him, the substitute will not be admitted even if the condition of the first degree fails, provided, of course, that the posthumous child has not been disinherited by him.
puto igitur existente quidem condicione primi gradus postumo potius locum fore: post defectum autem condicionis natus postumus gradum non rumpit, quia nullus est.
I think, therefore, that if the condition of the first degree is indeed fulfilled, there will rather be a place for the posthumous child; but a posthumous child born after the failure of the condition does not rupture the degree, because there is none.
rumpendo autem testamentum sibi locum facere postumus solet, quamuis filius sequentem gradum, a quo exheredatus est, patiatur ualere.
Moreover, a posthumous child is accustomed to make a place for himself by rupturing the testament, although a son may allow the subsequent degree, from which he has been disinherited, to be valid.
sed si a primo gradu praeteritus, a secundo exheredatus sit, si eo tempore nascatur postumus, quo aliquis ex institutis uixit, totum testamentum ruptum est: nam tollendo primum gradum, sibi locum faciet.
But if he has been passed over by the first degree and disinherited by the second, if the posthumous child is born at that time when any of those instituted was alive, the entire testament is ruptured; for by destroying the first degree, he will make a place for himself.

Notes

  1. 28.3.5.pra quo — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quo is the indefinite pronoun quis (here heres institutus, 'the instituted heir'). The preposition a indicates the agency ('by whom') with the passive verb exheredatus est.
  2. 28.3.5.prnullus est — Meaning 'there is none,' where the preceding noun gradus (degree) is omitted, effectively reading nullus gradus est (no degree exists). It refers to the state where the first degree itself has ceased to exist due to the failure of the condition.
  3. 28.3.5.prrumpendo ... testamentum — The gerund in the ablative case rumpendo takes testamentum as its direct object, expressing the means or instrument ('by rupturing the testament').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.3.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.3.5.pr

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