Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.5.43.pr

Institution of Multiple Slaves as Heirs by an Insolvent

Passage 4222 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In the case where an insolvent testator appointed two slaves as free heirs, the text discusses the validity of the sole inheritance if one dies before the opening of the will, and the invalidity of the institution under the Lex Aelia Sentia if both survive.

[IULIANUS libro sexagesimo quarto digestorum. ] §28.5.43.prQui soluendo non erat, duos Apollonios liberos heredesque esse iusserat.
[JULIANUS, in the sixty-fourth book of the Digests.] A person who was insolvent had ordered two men named Apollonius to be free and heirs.
altero ante apertas tabulas testamenti mortuo non ineleganter defendi poterit eum qui supererit liberum et solum necessarium heredem fore.
If one of them dies before the tablets of the will are opened, it can not inelegantly be maintained that the survivor will be free and the sole necessary heir.
quod si uterque uiuit, institutionem nullius esse momenti propter legem Aeliam Sentiam, quae amplius quam unum necessarium heredem fieri uetat:
But if both are alive, (it can be maintained) that the institution is of no effect on account of the Lex Aelia Sentia, which forbids more than one necessary heir to be made:

Notes

  1. §28.5.43.prsoluendo — Dative gerund of the verb soluo, which combines with the verb esse to form a legal expression meaning 'to be solvent'. Here with non, it means 'insolvent' or 'bankrupt'.
  2. §28.5.43.prdefendi poterit — Passive verb in the main clause. It governs both the immediate accusative-with-infinitive clause 'eum... fore' and the subsequent one 'institutionem... esse'.
  3. §28.5.43.prnullius esse momenti — momenti is a genitive of quality used predicatively with esse to mean 'of no importance' or 'of no effect/invalid'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.5.43.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.5.43.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.