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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.2.87.pr-29.2.87.1

Mistaken Possession and Abstention with Relief for Wards

Passage 4490 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage explains that a son does not lose his intention to abstain from his father's inheritance when he occupies his father's land under the mistaken belief that it belongs to his mother's inheritance, and addresses the restoration of confused actions when wards are released from hereditary liabilities.

[IDEM libro decimo responsorum. ] §29.2.87.prEum bonis patris se miscere conuenit, qui remoto familiae uinculo pro herede gerere uidetur.
[THE SAME, from the tenth book of Opinions.] It is agreed that he meddles with the property of his father who, after the bond of the family has been removed, is seen to act as heir.
et ideo filius, qui tamquam ex bonis matris, cuius hereditatem suscepit, agrum ad hereditatem patris pertinentem ut maternum ignorans possedit, abstinendi consilium, quod in bonis patris tenuit, amississe non uidetur.
And therefore a son, who possessed land belonging to the inheritance of his father as if it were from the property of his mother (whose inheritance he accepted), being ignorant and believing it to be his mother's, is not deemed to have lost the intention of abstaining which he maintained in respect to the property of his father.
§29.2.87.1Pupillis, quos placuit oneribus hereditariis esse liberandos, confusas actiones restitui oportet.
It is necessary that confused actions be restored to wards, whom it was decided should be freed from hereditary burdens.

Notes

  1. §29.2.87.prremoto familiae uinculo — Ablative absolute, meaning "once the bond of the family has been removed," referring to the state of being released from paternal power (*patria potestas*), such as through the death of the head of the family or emancipation (*emancipatio*).
  2. §29.2.87.prabstinendi consilium — An expression formed with the genitive gerund, referring to the intention to exercise the "benefit of abstaining" (*beneficium abstinendi*), which allowed necessary heirs (*suus heres*) to avoid liability for the deceased's debts by not meddling with the inheritance.
  3. §29.2.87.1confusas actiones — Refers to "confused actions," which are actions legally extinguished by confusion (*confusio*) when debtor and creditor became the same person due to inheritance. Here, it means that when a ward is released from hereditary liabilities, the actions originally extinguished by confusion must be restored.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.2.87.pr-29.2.87.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.2.87.pr-29.2.87.1

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