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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.1.41.pr-29.1.41.5

Time Limitations and Heir Restrictions in Military Wills

Passage 4400 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the validity of temporal limitations on heir institution in military wills, along with restrictions regarding disreputable women, dependents, and specific rules for substitution of sons.

[TRYPHONINUS libro octauo decimo disputationum. ] §29.1.41.prMiles ita heredem scribere potest: 'quoad uiuit, Titius heres esto, post mortem eius Septicius'. sed si ita scripscrit: 'Titius usque ad annos decem heres esto' nemine substituto, intestati causa post decem annos locum habebit.
[TRYPHONINUS, in his eighteenth book of Disputations.] A soldier can write his heir as follows: "Let Titius be heir as long as he lives, and after his death Septicius." But if he has written as follows: "Let Titius be heir up to ten years" with no one substituted, the case of intestacy will take place after ten years.
et quia diximus ex certo tempore et usque ad certum tempus milites posse instituere heredem, his consequens est, ut, antequam dies ueniat, quo admittatur institutus, intestati hereditas deferatur et quod in bonorum portione ei licet, hoc etiam in temporis spatio, licet non modicum sit, ex eodem priuilegio competat.
And because we have said that soldiers can institute an heir from a certain time and up to a certain time, it follows from this that, before the day arrives when the instituted heir is admitted, the intestate inheritance is deferred, and what is permitted to him in a portion of the assets is also competent to him in a space of time, although it is not moderate, by virtue of the same privilege.
§29.1.41.1Mulier, in qua turpis suspicio cadere potest, nec ex testamento militis aliquid capere potest, ut diuus Hadrianus rescripsit.
A woman on whom a shameful suspicion can fall cannot take anything even under the will of a soldier, as the Divine Hadrian replied by rescript.
§29.1.41.2Nec tutorem ei, qui in aliena est potestate, miles dare potest.
Nor can a soldier give a guardian to one who is in another's power.
§29.1.41.3Si miles exheredauerit filium uel sciens eum filium suum esse silentio praeterierit, an legatum a substituto eius dare possit, quaesitum est.
If a soldier has disinherited his son, or, knowing him to be his son, has passed him over in silence, it was asked whether a legacy could be given by his substitute.
dixi non posse, licet ampla legata reliquerit exheredato.
I said that it could not, although he left large legacies to the disinherited one.
§29.1.41.4Miles et emancipato filio substituere potest: uerum hoc ius in his exercebitur, quae ab ipso ad eum cui substituit peruenerint, non etiam in his, si quae habuerit uel postea adquisierit.
A soldier can also substitute to an emancipated son; but this right will be exercised over those things which have come from himself to the person for whom he made the substitution, and not also over those which he already had or acquired afterwards.
nam et si filio suo uiuo adhuc auo substituit, post adquisitam ei aui hereditatem nemo diceret ad substitutum pertinere.
For even if he has substituted to his son while the grandfather was still alive, no one would say, after the inheritance of the grandfather has been acquired by him, that it belongs to the substitute.
§29.1.41.5Si militis adita non fuerit hereditas, an substitutio quam pupillo fecit ualeat, quaeritur.
If the inheritance of a soldier has not been entered upon, it is asked whether the substitution which he made for a pupil is valid.
et consequens erit hoc dicere, quia permittitur militem filio facere testamentum, quamuis sibi non fecerit.
And it will be logical to say this, because a soldier is permitted to make a will for his son, even though he has not made one for himself.

Notes

  1. 29.1.41.prquod in bonorum portione — Under military privilege, a soldier is permitted to institute an heir for only a fraction of his estate, leaving the remainder to intestate succession (contrary to the civil law principle that no one can die partly testate and partly intestate). Here, this spatial or quantitative division serves as a basis for analogy, justifying why temporal division (limiting the institution of an heir to a specific period) is likewise permitted under the same privilege.
  2. 29.1.41.3legatum a substituto eius dare — The phrase "a substituto" means "by (or charged upon) the substitute," and "eius" refers back to the son ("filium") mentioned earlier (thus, the substitute of the son). In military wills, a father could appoint a pupillary substitute for his minor son, and this text addresses the highly technical legal question of whether he could charge a legacy upon this substitute of his son.
  3. 29.1.41.5et consequens erit hoc dicere — "hoc" in "hoc dicere" refers back to the query "ualeat" (whether the substitution is valid) in the preceding clause. Literally, "it will be a logical consequence to say this," indicating a positive determination that even if the soldier's own inheritance is not entered upon, the pupillary substitution made for his son remains valid independently.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.1.41.pr-29.1.41.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.1.41.pr-29.1.41.5

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