Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.1.13.pr-29.1.13.4

Institution of Heirs in Military Wills and Post-Discharge Effect

Passage 4372 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses property disposal in soldiers' wills, the expansion of inheritance scope after retirement, the appointment of individuals lacking capacity, and special remedies for slaves appointed as heirs or through trusts.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragesimo quinto ad edictum. ] §29.1.13.prIdem est, etsi de testamento mutando cogitauit, non quia adimere uolebat castrensia bona heredi scripto, sed quia de paternis testari uolebat et alium heredem scribere.
[ULPIANUS, in his forty-fifth book on the Edict.] The same holds true, even if he thought of changing his will, not because he wished to deprive the appointed heir of his military property, but because he wished to make a will regarding his paternal property and to appoint another heir.
§29.1.13.1Sed si iam ueteranus decessit, uniuersa bona etiam paterna ad heredem pertinere castrensium Marcellus libro decimo digestorum scribit: neque enim iam potuit de parte bonorum testari.
But if he has already died as a veteran, Marcellus writes in the tenth book of his Digests that the entire property, including the paternal property, belongs to the heir of the military property; for he could no longer make a will regarding only a part of his property.
§29.1.13.2Et deportati et fere omnes, qui testamenti factionem non habent, a milite heredes institui possunt.
Both deported persons and almost all those who do not have the capacity to make a will can be appointed heirs by a soldier.
sed si seruum poenae heredem scribat, institutio non ualebit: sed si mortis tempore in ciuitate inueniatur, institutio incipit conualescere quasi nunc data hereditate.
But if he should write down a slave of punishment as an heir, the appointment will not be valid; but if at the time of death he is found in the state of citizenship, the appointment begins to become valid, as if the inheritance were given now.
et generaliter in omnibus id poterit dici quos miles scribit heredes, ut institutio incipiat uires habere, si mortis tempore talis inueniatur, ut a milite institui potuerit.
And generally, this can be said in the case of all whom a soldier appoints as heirs, so that the appointment begins to have force, if at the time of death they are found to be such that they could be appointed by a soldier.
§29.1.13.3Si seruum proprium, quem liberum esse credidisset, miles heredem sine libertate instituit, in ea condicione est, ut institutio non ualeat.
If a soldier appoints his own slave, whom he believed to be free, as heir without granting freedom, the situation is such that the appointment is not valid.
§29.1.13.4Cum miles in testamento suo seruo libertatem dederit eidemque et a primo et a secundo herede per fideicommissum hereditatem reliquerit, quamuis et primus heres et substitutus, priusquam adierint hereditatem, mortem obierunt, non debere intestati exitum facere imperator noster cum diuo Seuero rescripsit: sed perinde habendum est, ac si eidem seruo libertas simul et hereditas directo data esset, quae utraque ad eum peruenire testatorem uoluisse negari non potest.
When a soldier has given freedom to his slave in his will, and has left the inheritance to the same slave by a trust from both the first and the second heir, although both the first heir and the substitute died before they entered upon the inheritance, our Emperor, together with the Divine Severus, rescribed that it ought not to result in intestacy; but it must be considered just as if freedom and the inheritance had been given directly to the same slave at the same time, since it cannot be denied that the testator wished both of these to come to him.

Notes

  1. 29.1.13.prde testamento mutando — The preposition de is followed by the noun testamento and the gerundive mutando agreeing with it in gender and case, expressing the subject matter of 'changing the will'.
  2. 29.1.13.1ad heredem pertinere castrensium — The genitive plural castrensium (referring to castrensia bona) modifies heredem, meaning 'the heir of the military property'. This indicates that since the veteran lost the military privilege, all property devolves to this heir, avoiding partial intestacy.
  3. 29.1.13.2quasi nunc data hereditate — This is an ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun hereditate and the perfect participle data, introduced by the conjunction quasi ('as if') to express a hypothetical situation.
  4. 29.1.13.4non debere intestati exitum facere — This is an accusative with infinitive (ACI) construction depending on rescripsit. It functions impersonally, meaning 'it ought not to result in intestacy'. Here, intestati is a genitive qualifying exitum, literally 'the outcome of an intestate'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.1.13.pr-29.1.13.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.1.13.pr-29.1.13.4

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.