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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.6.30.pr

Devolution of a Vacant Share in Multi-Level Substitution

Passage 4302 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In a testamentary case with multi-level substitutions, where one first-rank heir and their second-rank substitute die beforehand, the jurist interprets the testator's intention to decide whether the vacant quarter-share accrues to the surviving first-rank heir or goes to the third-rank substitutes.

[IULIANUS libro septuagesimo octauo digestorum. ] §28.6.30.prQuidam testamento Proculum ex parte quarta et Quietum ex parte dimidia et quarta heredem instituit, deinde Quieto Florum, Proculo Sosiam heredes substituit, deinde, si neque Florus neque Sosia heredes essent, tertio gradu ex parte dimidia et quarta coloniam Leptitanorum et ex quarta complures heredes substituit in plures quam tres uncias: Quietus hereditatem adiit, Proculus et Sosia uiuo testatore decesserunt: quaeritur, quadrans Proculo datus ad Quietum an ad substitutos tertio gradu pertineat.
[JULIANUS, Book 78 of Digest.] A certain person by his will instituted Proculus as heir to a fourth part, and Quietus to a half and a fourth part; then he substituted Florus to Quietus, and Sosia to Proculus; then, if neither Florus nor Sosia should be heirs, he substituted in the third degree the colony of the Leptitans to a half and a fourth part, and several heirs to a fourth part in more than three ounces. Quietus entered upon the inheritance; Proculus and Sosia died during the lifetime of the testator. The question is whether the fourth part given to Proculus belongs to Quietus or to the substitutes in the third degree.
respondi eam uideri uoluntatem patris familias fuisse, ut tertio gradu scriptos heredes ita demum substituerit, si tota hereditas uacasset, idque apparere euidenter ex eo, quod plures quam duodecim uncias inter eos distribuisset, et idcirco partem quartam hereditatis de qua quaeritur ad Quietum pertinere.
I answered that the intention of the father of the family seemed to have been to substitute the heirs written in the third degree only if the entire inheritance had become vacant; and that this clearly appeared from the fact that he had distributed more than twelve ounces among them, and therefore that the fourth part of the inheritance in question belongs to Quietus.

Notes

  1. §28.6.30.prex parte dimidia et quarta — A fractional expression. 'pars dimidia' refers to a half (1/2) and 'quarta' to a fourth (1/4); combined, they represent three-fourths (3/4 or 9/12) of the estate.
  2. §28.6.30.prita demum... si — A correlative construction expressing a strict condition, meaning 'only if' or 'only under the condition that'. Here it forms the basis of the interpretation that the third-degree substitution is activated only when the entire inheritance becomes vacant.
  3. §28.6.30.prrespondi eam uideri uoluntatem patris familias fuisse... pertinere — A long indirect discourse (A.C.I.) governed by the main verb 'respondi' ('I answered'). It contains three parallel infinitives, 'uideri', 'apparere', and 'pertinere', which take 'eam [uoluntatem] ... fuisse', 'id', and 'partem quartam' as their respective subject accusatives.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.6.30.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.6.30.pr

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