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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.6.42.pr

Deaths of Two Minor Sons and the Rights of the Substitute

Passage 4314 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the case of substitution appointed for two underage sons upon their death, analyzing the devolution of their estates, the calculation of the Falcidian law, and the validity of legacies depending on whether they died at the same time or at different times.

[IDEM libro primo definitionum. ] §28.6.42.prQui duos impuberes filios heredes reliquerat, ita substituit, si ambo mortui essent: deinde pueri post mortem patris simul perierunt: duae hereditates substituto deferuntur.
[THE SAME, from his first book of Definitions.] A person who had left two underage sons as heirs substituted [another] in this manner, "if both should die." If the boys subsequently perished at the same time after the death of the father, both inheritances are deferred to the substitute.
sed si diuersis temporibus uita decedant, in hereditate nouissimi pueri eius fratris, qui ante mortuus est, hereditatem substitutus inueniet: sed in ratione Falcidiae pueri prioris hereditas non ueniet nec substitutus amplius quam sescunciam iure testamenti desiderabit: legata quoque, quae a substituto eius filii data sunt, qui prior intestato decessit, ad irritum reccidunt.
But if they die at different times, the substitute will find the inheritance of the brother who died first inside the inheritance of the boy who died last; however, the inheritance of the first boy will not enter into the calculation of the Falcidian law, nor will the substitute claim more than one-eighth by right of the testament; also, the legacies which were given [to be paid] by the substitute of that son who died first intestate fall into voidance.

Notes

  1. §28.6.42.prin hereditate nouissimi pueri eius fratris, qui ante mortuus est, hereditatem — Syntactically, `hereditatem` (accusative) is the direct object of the transitive verb `inueniet`, modified by the genitive phrase `eius fratris, qui ante mortuus est` ("of his brother who died before"). This object is placed after the ablative phrase `in hereditate nouissimi pueri` ("in the inheritance of the last boy"), creating a hyperbaton.
  2. §28.6.42.prsescunciam — `sescuncia` (sesqui-uncia, one and a half ounces) refers to 1.5/12 (i.e., one-eighth or 1/8) of the total inheritance (which consists of 12 ounces, the *as*).
  3. §28.6.42.prlegata quoque, quae a substituto eius filii data sunt — In `a substituto... data sunt`, the prepositional phrase `a substituto` expresses the agent of the passive verb `data sunt` ("given by the substitute"). It refers to legacies imposed on the substitute as the person obligated to perform them.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.6.42.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.6.42.pr

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