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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.2.6.pr-29.2.6.7

Inheritance Entry by a Son and Its Effects on the Father

Passage 4409 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses the inheritance entry and acquisition by a son under power (filius familias) and its effects on the father's rights and liabilities, referencing the Orfitian senatusconsult and imperial rescripts.

[IDEM libro sexto ad Sabinum. ] §29.2.6.prQui in aliena est potestate, non potest inuitum hereditati obligare eum in cuius est potestate, ne aeri alieno pater obligaretur.
[THE SAME in the sixth book on Sabinus.] A person who is in the power of another cannot, against his will, bind the person in whose power he is to an inheritance, lest the father should be bound to a debt.
§29.2.6.1Sed in bonorum possessione placuit ratam haberi posse eam, quam citra uoluntatem adgnouit is qui potestati subiectus est.
But in the case of the possession of goods, it has been accepted that that which the person subject to power has acknowledged without the other's consent can be ratified.
§29.2.6.2Sed et si legitima hereditas filio delata sit ex senatus consulto Orfitiano matris, idem erit probandum.
But also, if a lawful inheritance from a mother is devolved upon a son under the Orfitian senatusconsult, the same rule must be approved.
§29.2.6.3Sed et si non adierit filius, diu tamen possedit pater hereditatem, credendus est admississe hereditatem, ut diuus Pius et imperator noster rescripserunt.
But even if the son has not entered, yet if the father has possessed the inheritance for a long time, he is to be believed to have accepted the inheritance, as the divine Pius and our Emperor have stated in rescripts.
§29.2.6.4Si is, qui putabat se filium familias, patris iussu adierit, eum neque sibi neque ei qui iussit quaesisse hereditatem constat: quamquam is, quem pater iussit adire et decessit, si adierit iam mortuo patre, obliget se hereditati, ut Iulianus libro trigesimo primo digestorum scripsit: nam eum, qui dubitat, utrum filius familias an pater familias morte patris factus sit, posse adire hereditatem magis admittit.
It is established that if a person, who thought himself to be a son of the family, has entered upon an inheritance by his father's command, he has acquired it neither for himself nor for him who commanded; although if he whom the father commanded to enter, and then died, enters after the father is already dead, he binds himself to the inheritance, as Julian wrote in the thirty-first book of the Digests; for he rather admits that a person who doubts whether he has been made a son of the family or a father of the family by the death of his father can enter upon the inheritance.
§29.2.6.5Interdum filii familias et sine aditione adquirent hereditatem his in quorum sunt potestate, ut puta si nepos ex filio exheredato heres sit institutus: patrem enim suum sine aditione faciet heredem et quidem necessarium.
Sometimes sons of the family will acquire an inheritance even without entry for those in whose power they are, as, for example, if a grandson by a disinherited son is appointed heir; for he will make his own father heir without entry, and indeed a necessary heir.
§29.2.6.6Sed si quis heres institutus adoptetur a filio exheredato, necessarium eum non facit, sed iuberi debet, ut adeat, quoniam mortis tempore in potestate non fuerit: nam per eum quis existere necessarius non potest, qui ipse non esset exstaturus.
But if anyone who has been appointed heir is adopted by a disinherited son, he does not make him a necessary heir, but he must be commanded to enter, because at the time of death he was not in his power; for no one can become a necessary heir through someone who would not have been one himself.
§29.2.6.7Celsus libro quinto decimo digestorum scripsit eum, qui metu uerborum uel aliquo timore coactus fallens adierit hereditatem, siue liber sit, heredem non fieri placet, siue seruus sit, dominum heredem non facere.
Celsus wrote in the fifteenth book of the Digests that it is accepted that a person who, coerced by verbal threats or some fear, has entered upon an inheritance deceitfully, if he is a free man, does not become heir, and if he is a slave, does not make his master heir.

Notes

  1. 29.2.6.prne aeri alieno pater obligaretur — A purpose clause with the imperfect subjunctive "obligaretur". "pater" refers to the holder of power over the filius familias (typically the pater familias). "aes alienum" (literally "another's bronze") is a standard term for "debt", appearing here in the ablative case.
  2. 29.2.6.1eam, quam — The pronoun "eam" (accusative feminine singular) refers back to "bonorum possessione" (a feminine noun) from the main clause, serving as the antecedent for the relative clause "quam... adgnouit".
  3. 29.2.6.4is, quem pater iussit adire et decessit — In the relative clause modifying the antecedent "is" (nominative masculine singular), the accusative-with-infinitve construction "quem pater iussit adire" is coordinated with the verb "decessit", whose subject shifts back to "pater". Logically, it simplifies a more complex structure such as "is, quem pater iussit adire et qui, cum pater decessisset, ...".
  4. 29.2.6.6nam per eum quis existere necessarius non potest, qui ipse non esset exstaturus — The antecedent of the relative pronoun "qui" is "eum" (the disinherited son who adopted the heir). "esset exstaturus" is a periphrastic conjugation combining the future active participle with the imperfect subjunctive, expressing either a future from a past perspective or a counterfactual condition (since he was disinherited, he could not have emerged as a necessary heir).
  5. 29.2.6.7fallens — The present participle "fallens" (deceiving, making a mistake) here describes the state of acting under pretense, i.e., "pretending" to wish to enter the inheritance when actually coerced.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.2.6.pr-29.2.6.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.2.6.pr-29.2.6.7

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