[IDEM libro undecimo responsorum. ] §29.1.40.prLucius Titius miles notario suo testamentum scribendum notis dictauit et antequam litteris praescriberetur, uita defunctus est: quaero, an haec dictatio ualere possit.
[THE SAME, in his eleventh book of Opinions.] Lucius Titius, a soldier, dictated his will in shorthand to his scribe to be written down, and died before it was written out in ordinary letters. I ask whether this dictation can be valid.
respondi militibus, quoquo modo uelint et quo modo possunt, testamentum facere concessum esse, ita tamen, ut hoc ita subsecutum esse legitimis probationibus ostendatur.
I replied: Soldiers are permitted to make a will in whatever way they wish and in whatever way they can, provided, however, that it is shown by legal proofs that this actually occurred in this way.
§29.1.40.1Idem respondit ex testamento eius, qui iure militari testatus esset, seruum, qui licet sub condicione legatum meruit, etiam libertatem posse sibi uindicare.
The same replied that, from the will of one who had made his will by military law, a slave, ¦licet sub condicione legatum meruit¦ although he has deserved a legacy under a condition, can also claim freedom for himself.
§29.1.40.2Idem respondit: Lucius Titius miles testamentum ita fecit: 'Pamphila serua mea ex asse mihi heres esto': alio deinde capite Sempronio commilitoni suo eandem Pamphilam reliquit, cuius fidei commisit, ut eam manumitteret: quaero, an heres esset Pamphila atque si directo accepisset libertatem.
The same replied: Lucius Titius, a soldier, made his will as follows: "Let my female slave Pamphila be my sole heir." Then, in another clause, he bequeathed the same Pamphila to his fellow-soldier Sempronius, to whose good faith he entrusted that he should manumit her. I ask whether Pamphila is the heir and ¦atque si directo accepisset libertatem¦ just as if she had received freedom directly.
respondi intellegendum militem, qui ancillam suam heredem instituerat, ignorasse posse ex ea institutione etiam libertatem ei competere et ideo sine causa postea a commilitone petisse, ut eandem manumitteret: cum ex priore scriptura libera et heres effecta est, postea nullo praeiudicio uoluntati facto frustra legata est.
I replied that it must be understood that the soldier, who had instituted his female slave as heir, did not know that from that institution freedom also belonged to her, and therefore without cause afterwards requested his fellow-soldier to manumit her; since by the prior writing she was made free and heir, she was afterwards bequeathed in vain, with ¦nullo praeiudicio uoluntati facto¦ no prejudice being done to the intention.