Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.2.66.pr

Inability of Common Slave as Necessary Heir to Abstain

Passage 4469 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It rules that if a common slave becomes a necessary heir to some or all of his masters, he cannot abstain from the inheritance of any of them.

[ULPIANUS libro sexagesimo primo ad edictum. ] §29.2.66.prSi seruus communis uel uni ex dominis uel pluribus uel omnibus heres exstiterit necessarius, nullius eorum hereditate se poterit abstinere.
[ULPIANUS, from the sixty-first book on the Edict.] If a common slave should become a necessary heir to one of his masters, or to several, or to all of them, he will not be able to abstain from the inheritance of any of them.

Notes

  1. §29.2.66.prheres exstiterit necessarius — "should become a necessary heir". A "heres necessarius" (necessary heir) is a slave who, designated as an heir along with the grant of freedom in a will, becomes an heir automatically by law, regardless of his own will. "exstiterit" is the future perfect active indicative third-person singular of "exsistere".
  2. §29.2.66.prhereditate se poterit abstinere — "will be able to abstain from the inheritance". "hereditate" is an ablative of separation, dependent on "se abstinere" (to keep oneself away, to abstain). It indicates that the slave cannot enjoy the right of abstaining from the inheritance (beneficium abstinendi).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.2.66.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.2.66.pr

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