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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.4.4.pr

Destruction of Duplicate Tablets and Will Validity

Passage 4179 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinian states that when a testament is executed on multiple identical tablets, the destruction of some does not invalidate it if the rest prove the transaction; Paulus adds that if they were cut with the intent to die intestate, and this is proved by the intestate heirs, the written testament is set aside.

[PAPINIANUS libro sexto responsorum. ] §28.4.4.prPluribus tabulis eodem exemplo scriptis unius testamenti uoluntatem eodem tempore dominus sollemniter compleuit.
[PAPINIANUS, Book 6 of the Opinions.] By means of several tablets written after the same pattern, the testator formally completed the intention of a single testament at the same time.
si quasdam tabulas in publico depositas abstulit atque deleuit, quae iure gesta sunt, praesertim cum ex ceteris tabulis quas non abstulit res gesta declaretur, non constituentur irrita.
If he took away and destroyed certain tablets which had been deposited in public, what was done according to law will not be rendered invalid, especially since the transaction is made clear from the other tablets which he did not take away.
PAULUS notat: sed si, ut intestatus moreretur, incidit tabulas et hoc adprobauerint hi qui ab intestato uenire desiderant, scriptis auocabitur hereditas.
PAULUS notes: But if, in order that he might die intestate, he cut the tablets, and those who wish to succeed intestato prove this, the inheritance will be taken away from those written in the testament.

Notes

  1. §28.4.4.prquae iure gesta sunt — A relative clause with an omitted antecedent (ea), functioning as the subject (neuter plural) of the main verb non constituentur. In this context, it refers to the legal dispositive acts recorded in the testament.
  2. §28.4.4.prscriptis — A substantive use of the adjective, standing for scriptis heredibus ('the written heirs'). It acts as an ablative (or dative) of separation in connection with the verb auocabitur.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.4.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.4.4.pr

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