Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.6.28.pr

The Cornelian Law and Inheritance of Captured Father and Son

Passage 4300 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses that the Cornelian Law (protecting the testaments of captives) applies not only to the testaments of the deceased themselves but also to inheritances derived through them, explaining the devolution of estate when a father and his minor or adult son are captured by the enemy.

[IDEM libro sexagesimo secundo digestorum. ] §28.6.28.prLex Cornelia, quae testamenta eorum qui in hostium potestate decesserunt confirmat, non solum ad hereditatem ipsorum qui testamenta fecerunt pertinet, sed ad omnes hereditates, quae ad quemque ex eorum testamento pertinere potuissent, si in hostium potestatem non peruenissent.
[THE SAME, Book 62 of Digests.] The Cornelian law, which validates the testaments of those who have died in the power of the enemy, applies not only to the inheritance of those very persons who made the testaments, but also to all inheritances which could have belonged to anyone under their testaments, if they had not come into the power of the enemy.
quapropter cum pater in hostium potestate decessit filio impubere relicto in ciuitate et is intra tempus pubertatis decesserit, hereditas ad substitutum pertinet, perinde ac si pater in hostium potestatem non peruenisset.
Therefore, when a father has died in the power of the enemy, leaving an impuberal son in the state, and the latter has died within the age of puberty, the inheritance belongs to the substitute, just as if the father had not come into the power of the enemy.
sed si pater in ciuitate decessit, filius impubes apud hostes, si quidem mortuo patre filius in hostium potestatem peruenerit, non incommode dicitur hereditatem eius ex ea lege ad substitutos pertinere: si uero uiuo patre filius in hostium potestatem peruenerit, non existimo legi Corneliae locum esse, quia non efficitur per eam, ut is, qui nulla bona in ciuitate reliquit, heredes habeat.
But if the father has died in the state, and the impuberal son is among the enemy, provided that the son came into the power of the enemy after the father's death, it is not improperly said that his inheritance belongs to the substitutes by virtue of that law. But if, while the father was still living, the son came into the power of the enemy, I do not think there is room for the Cornelian law, because it is not effected by it that he who left no property in the state should have heirs.
quare etiam si pubes filius uiuo patre captus fuerit, deinde mortuo in ciuitate patre in hostium potestate decesserit, patris hereditas ex lege duodecim tabularum, non filii ex lege Cornelia ad adgnatum proximum pertinet.
Therefore, even if an adult son has been captured while his father was living, and then, after his father has died in the state, has died in the power of the enemy, the father's inheritance belongs to the nearest agnate under the Law of the Twelve Tables, not that of the son under the Cornelian law.

Notes

  1. §28.6.28.prsi in hostium potestatem non peruenissent — The pluperfect subjunctives `potuissent` and `peruenissent` express a past contrary-to-fact condition. This explains the legal fiction of the Cornelian Law (fictio legis Corneliae, c. 81 BC), which deems a Roman citizen who died in captivity to have died at the moment of capture, i.e., as a free citizen, to preserve his testament and subsequent devolutions.
  2. §28.6.28.prfilius impubes apud hostes — An elliptical expression where the verb is omitted. In contrast to the preceding clause `sed si pater in ciuitate decessit`, a verb like `decesserit` (has died) or `fuerit` (has been) is understood.
  3. §28.6.28.pruiuo patre — An ablative absolute construction formed by the noun `patre` and the adjective `uiuo` ("while the father was alive"). Similarly, `mortuo patre` ("after the father had died") is also an ablative absolute. In Roman law, the sequence of the capture (which resulted in loss of status) and the father's death is crucial for determining citizenship and capacity to inherit, making these temporal markers legally decisive.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.6.28.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.6.28.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.