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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.5.37.pr-28.5.37.2

Stages of Conditional Institution and Mutual Substitution

Passage 4216 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Deals with the hierarchical relations in conditional heir institutions, the interpretation of mutual substitution, and the effect of disinheriting a specific son after a general institution of all sons.

[IULIANUS libro uicesimo nono digestorum. ] §28.5.37.prCum in testamento ita scribitur: 'si filius meus me uiuo morietur, nepos ex eo post mortem meam natus heres esto', duo gradus heredum sunt: nullo enim casu uterque ad hereditatem admittitur.
[JULIANUS, in the twenty-ninth book of his Digest.] When it is written in a testament as follows: 'If my son dies during my lifetime, let the grandson born of him after my death be my heir,' there are two degrees of heirs; for in no case are both admitted to the inheritance.
ex quo apparet, si nepoti Titius substitutus fuerit et filius patri heres exstiterit, non posse Titium una cum filio heredem esse, quia non in primum, sed in secundum gradum substituitur.
From this it is clear that, if Titius has been substituted for the grandson, and the son has become heir to his father, Titius cannot be heir together with the son, because he is substituted not in the first degree, but in the second.
H §28.5.37.1aec uerba: 'Publius Marcus Gaius inuicem substituti heredes mihi sunto' sic interpretanda sunt, ut breuiter uideretur testator tres instituisse heredes et inuicem eos substituisse, perinde ac si ita scripsisset: 'ille et ille et ille instituti heredes et substituti sunto'. §28.5.37.2Qui tres filios habebat et ita scripserit: 'filii mei heredes sunto: Publius filius meus exheres esto', uideri potest prima parte duos dumtaxat filios heredes instituisse.
These words: 'Let Publius, Marcus, and Gaius be my heirs substituted for one another,' must be so interpreted that the testator may appear to have briefly appointed three heirs and substituted them for one another, just as if he had written: 'Let this one and that one and that one be appointed heirs and substituted.' He who had three sons and wrote as follows: 'Let my sons be my heirs; let my son Publius be disinherited,' can be seen to have appointed only two sons as heirs in the first part.

Notes

  1. §28.5.37.prnon posse — Forms an accusative with infinitive clause functioning as the subject of the impersonal verb apparet, where Titium is the subject accusative of posse, which in turn takes heredem esse as its complementary infinitive.
  2. §28.5.37.1ut breuiter uideretur — A consecutive ut-clause (ut + imperfect subjunctive) in coordination with the correlative sic, indicating the standard of interpretation or its resulting effect. The subject of uideretur is testator.
  3. §28.5.37.2Qui — A relative pronoun containing its own antecedent (equivalent to is qui), serving as the subject of the main verb potest.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.5.37.pr-28.5.37.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.5.37.pr-28.5.37.2

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