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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.6.7.pr

Invalidity of Substitution after Age Fourteen

Passage 4279 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that substitution after the fourteenth year of age is void under civil law, and that treating such a person as an added heir is not allowed, as it would contradict the testator's intention for the son to possess the whole.

[PAPINIANUS libro sexto responsorum. ] §28.6.7.prUerbis ciuilibus substitutionem post quartum decimum annum aetatis frustra fieri conuenit: sed qui non admittitur ut substitutus, ut adiectus heres quandoque non erit, ne fiat contra uoluntatem, si filius non habeat totum interim, quod ei testamento pater dedit.
[From PAPINIANUS, Book 6 of Opinions.] It is agreed that a substitution made after the fourteenth year of age by civil law words is in vain; but he who is not admitted as a substituted heir will not at any time be an added heir, lest it should happen contrary to the intention, if the son should not have in the meantime the whole of what his father gave him by the will.

Notes

  1. §28.6.7.prUerbis ciuilibus — Ablative of means or cause, meaning "by the words of the civil law." It indicates that the declaration was made in accordance with the strict formal words of the civil law.
  2. §28.6.7.prpost quartum decimum annum aetatis — "After the fourteenth year of age." This refers to the legal age of puberty (fourteen for males), at which point the prerequisite for pupillary substitution (being impuberal) is lost, rendering the substitution void.
  3. §28.6.7.prut adiectus heres — "As an added heir." It rejects the possibility of rescuing or interpreting the designated person as a co-heir (coheres) when the substitution (substitutio) has become void upon the son's reaching fourteen.
  4. §28.6.7.prne fiat ... si filius non habeat — A conditional clause si... habeat (subjunctive present) is nested inside the negative purpose clause ne fiat. It explains the interpretive reason: if the son were not to have the whole (given to him by the father's will) even temporarily due to the intrusion of a co-heir, it would run contrary to the testator's true intention.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.6.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.6.7.pr

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