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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.2.46.pr

Inheritance Acceptance Pending Allegations of Will Forgery

Passage 4449 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that when a will is alleged to be forged, the permissibility of accepting the inheritance differs depending on whether the heir himself or a third party is accused of the forgery.

[AFRICANUS libro primo quaestionum. ] §29.2.46.prCum falsum testamentum diceretur, si quidem ipse heres accusaretur, quoniam certus esse debeat se falsum non fecisse, recte adibit hereditatem: sin autem alius argueretur citra conscientiam eius, non potest adire, quasi dubitet uerum esse testamentum.
[AFRICANUS, in the first book of Questions.] When a will was alleged to be forged, if indeed the heir himself were accused, since he ought to be certain that he himself did not commit the forgery, he will rightly accept the inheritance; but if another person were accused without his knowledge, he cannot accept it, as if he were in doubt whether the will is genuine.

Notes

  1. §29.2.46.prcitra conscientiam eius — The preposition "citra" means "without" and governs the accusative "conscientiam" (privity or complicity). "eius" refers to the heir. This indicates a situation where a third party is accused of forgery without any knowledge or involvement on the part of the heir.
  2. §29.2.46.prquasi dubitet — The conjunction "quasi" with the subjunctive present "subitet" expresses a hypothetical reason ("as if he were in doubt"). It indicates that if the heir were to accept the inheritance while the will's validity is being contested by someone else's accusation, his act would be treated as though he were acting in doubt of its genuineness, which is legally impermissible.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.2.46.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.2.46.pr

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