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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.5.91.pr

Inheritance by a Slave Freed by Reward Before Condition

Passage 4270 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses whether a slave, appointed as a conditional heir with freedom, who gains freedom by a praetor's decree for revealing his master's murder before the condition is met, becomes a necessary heir or is allowed to enter upon the inheritance voluntarily.

[TRYPHONINUS libro uicesimo primo disputationum. ] §28.5.91.prTestamento domini seruus sub condicione cum libertate heres institutus pendente adhuc condicione necem domini detexit eumque praetor mereri libertatem decreuit.
[TRYPHONINUS, in the twenty-first book of Disputations.] A slave who was appointed heir by his master's will under a condition along with freedom, while the condition was still pending, revealed the murder of his master, and the praetor decreed that he deserved freedom.
etsi postea condicio testamenti exstiterit, aliunde liber est, id est ex praemio, non ex testamento: igitur non est necessarius domino heres: licet autem ei uolenti adire.
Even if the condition of the will is fulfilled afterwards, he is free from another source, that is, by way of reward, not from the will; therefore, he is not a necessary heir to his master; however, he is permitted to enter upon the inheritance if he wishes.

Notes

  1. 28.5.91.prpendente adhuc condicione — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun condicione and the present participle pendente, meaning 'while the condition was still pending' or 'before the condition was fulfilled'.
  2. 28.5.91.prnecessarius domino heres — Normally, a slave appointed heir with freedom by his master's will becomes a 'necessary heir' (necessarius heres) automatically. However, in this case, because he has already acquired freedom through a reward before the fulfillment of the condition of the will, the status of necessary heir does not apply, allowing him to choose whether to enter upon the inheritance voluntarily.
  3. 28.5.91.pradire — An ellipsis of the legal phrase hereditatem adire, meaning 'to enter upon the inheritance' or 'to accept the inheritance'. It is used here as an infinitive with the dative uolenti, which agrees with the complement of the impersonal verb licet.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.5.91.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.5.91.pr

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