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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.6.38.pr-28.6.38.3

Substitution by Age Limit and Compelled Acceptance

Passage 4310 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus discusses the flexibility of substituting heirs for multiple children, including substitution for specific age limits, and addresses a dispute between Scaevola and the majority of jurists regarding the revival of pupillary tablets when an inheritance is entered upon under compulsion of a trust.

[PAULUS libro singulari de secundis tabulis. ] §28.6.38.prQui plures liberos habet, potest quibusdam substituere neque utique necesse habet omnibus, sicuti potest nulli substituere.
[PAULUS, from his single book on second tablets.] A person who has several children can substitute heirs for some of them, and is not by any means obliged to do so for all, just as he can substitute for none.
§28.6.38.1Ergo et ad breue tempus aetatis substituere potest, ut puta 'si filius meus intra annum decimum decesserit, Titius ei heres esto'. §28.6.38.2Itaque et si diuersos substituat post finem aetatis, admittendum erit, ueluti 'si intra decimum annum decesserit, Titius heres esto: si post decimum intra quartum decimum, Maeuius heres esto'. §28.6.38.3Si a patre institutus rogatusque hereditatem restituere coactus ex fideicommissario adierit, quamuis cetera, quae in eodem testamento relicta sunt, per eam aditionem confirmentur, ut legata et libertates, secundas tamen tabulas non oportere resuscitari destituto iam iure ciuili testamento Quintus Ceruidius Scaeuola noster dicebat.
Therefore, he can also substitute for a short period of age, for example: "If my son dies within his tenth year, let Titius be his heir." And so, even if he should substitute different persons after the end of a period of age, it must be admitted, for example: "If he dies within his tenth year, let Titius be his heir; if after his tenth and within his fourteenth, let Maevius be his heir." If a son instituted by his father and requested to restore the inheritance is compelled to enter upon it on account of a trust, although other things left in the same testament, such as legacies and manumissions, are confirmed by that entry, our Quintus Cervidius Scaevola used to say that the second tablets ought not to be revived, the testament being already frustrated under civil law.
sed plerique in diuersa sunt opinione, quia et pupillares tabulae pars sunt prioris testamenti, quo iure utimur.
But most jurists are of a different opinion, because the pupillary tablets are also part of the prior testament, which is the rule we apply.

Notes

  1. §28.6.38.prquibusdam substituere neque utique necesse habet omnibus — The pronouns 'quibusdam' and 'omnibus' are in the dative case required by the verb 'substituere', referring back to the children ('liberos'). An infinitive 'substituere' is elliptically omitted after 'neque utique necesse habet' and should be supplied from the context.
  2. §28.6.38.2si post decimum intra quartum decimum — The verb 'decesserit' is omitted in this conditional clause and must be supplied from the immediately preceding clause 'si intra decimum annum decesserit...' to yield the sense 'if he should die after his tenth year and within his fourteenth year'.
  3. §28.6.38.3secundas tamen tabulas non oportere resuscitari destituto iam iure ciuili testamento — This is an accusative and infinitive construction introduced by the main verb 'dicebat'. 'destituto iam iure ciuili testamento' is an ablative absolute expressing cause ('since the testament has already been frustrated under civil law'). 'destituto' modifies 'testamento', and 'iure ciuili' acts as an ablative of specification/respect.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.6.38.pr-28.6.38.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.6.38.pr-28.6.38.3

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