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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §28.7.16.pr

Invalidity of Circular and Mutually Conditional Heir Appointments

Passage 4336 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Marcianus quotes Julian's opinion that a circular institution of heirs, where each is conditional upon the other being heir, is invalid because the condition can never be fulfilled.

[MARCIANUS libro quarto institutionum. ] §28.7.16.pr'Si Titius heres erit, Seius heres esto: si Seius heres erit, Titius heres esto'. Iulianus inutilem esse institutionem scribit, cum condicio existere non possit.
[MARCIANUS, in the fourth book of Institutes.] 'If Titius is heir, let Seius be heir; if Seius is heir, let Titius be heir.' Julian writes that the institution is invalid, since the condition cannot be fulfilled.

Notes

  1. §28.7.16.prinutilem esse institutionem — An accusative with infinitive (A.c.I.) construction serving as the object of the verb `scribit`. `institutionem` refers to the "institution of an heir" (institutio heredis), and `inutilem` denotes being legally "invalid" or "ineffective".
  2. §28.7.16.prcum condicio existere non possit — The conjunction `cum` expresses cause ("since" or "because") and takes the subjunctive present `possit`. In legal Latin, `condicio existit` is a technical expression meaning "the condition is fulfilled/realized". Here, because of the circular dependency of the conditions, it is logically impossible for them to be fulfilled.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §28.7.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:28.7.16.pr

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