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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.1.34.pr-29.1.34.2

Validity of a Suicidal Soldier's Will and Revocation

Passage 4393 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the validity of the testament of a soldier who chose to die out of pain or weariness of life, the legal effect of an unfinished testament started within a year after discharge, and the rule that an active soldier's latest will always revokes any prior testament.

[PAPINIANUS libro quarto decimo quaestionum. ] §29.1.34.prEius militis, qui doloris inpatientia uel taedio uitae mori maluit, testamentum ualere uel intestati bona ab his qui lege uocantur uindicari diuus Hadrianus rescripsit.
[PAPINIANUS, in his fourteenth book of Questions.] The deified Hadrian replied by rescript that the testament of that soldier who, through impatience of pain or weariness of life, preferred to die, is valid, or that his property as an intestate is to be claimed by those who are called by law.
§29.1.34.1Militia missus intra annum testamentum facere coepit neque perficere potuit: potest dici solutum ita esse testamentum quod in militia fecit, si iure militiae fuit scriptum: alioquin si ualuit iure communi, non esse iure rescissum.
A person discharged from service began to make a testament within a year but was unable to complete it: it can be said that the testament which he made during his service is thus dissolved, if it was written under military law; otherwise, if it was valid under common law, it is not legally revoked.
§29.1.34.2Nec tamen circa militem eadem adhibebitur distinctio: nam quocumque modo testamentum fecerit, nouissima uoluntate rescindetur, quoniam uoluntas quoque militis testamentum est.
However, the same distinction will not be applied to an active soldier; for in whatever manner he may have made his testament, it will be revoked by his latest will, since the mere will of a soldier is also a testament.

Notes

  1. 29.1.34.prEius militis — The genitive eius militis modifies testamentum (the subject accusative of the infinitive ualere in the indirect statement) and also extends its possessive force to bona (the subject accusative of uindicari after the disjunctive uel). The genitive intestati agrees with the implied eius militis, meaning 'of him [dying] intestate.'
  2. 29.1.34.1Militia missus — The perfect participle missus functions substantively as the subject of the sentence ('one who has been discharged'). The ablative militia is an ablative of separation ('from military service') depending on missus.
  3. 29.1.34.1non esse iure rescissum — Part of the indirect statement introduced by 'potest dici', with the subject accusative 'testamentum' supplied from the preceding context. It states that under common law, a prior testament is not legally revoked ('non esse iure rescissum') merely by starting a new, unfinished testament, contrasting with the rule for military testaments.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.1.34.pr-29.1.34.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.1.34.pr-29.1.34.2

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