Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.4.28.pr-29.4.28.1

Sale of an Heir-Slave and Enforcement of Trusts

Passage 4542 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains the obligation of a master to perform a trust when he sells a slave appointed heir before acceptance, and the compulsory enforcement of trust duties on an heir who attempts to possess the inheritance intestate while avoiding the testament.

[MAECIANUS libro quarto fideicommissorum. ] §29.4.28.prSi seruum heredem institutum dominus, qui ipse rogatus fuerat fideicommissum praestare, priusquam adire iuberet, uendiderit, praestare id debet, cum per pretium serui hereditatis quoque aestimationem consequatur.
[MAECIANUS, from the fourth book on Trusts.] If a master—who was himself requested to perform a trust—sells a slave who has been appointed heir, before ordering him to enter upon the inheritance, he must perform it; since through the price of the slave he obtains the valuation of the inheritance as well.
§29.4.28.1Institutus heres et rogatus restituere hereditatem si omissa causa testamenti legitimam hereditatem possideat, non dubie ut legata ceteraque fideicommissa, ita hereditatem quoque restituere compellendus est, libertates quoque tam directas quam fideicommissarias.
If an appointed heir who was requested to restore the inheritance, omitting the basis of the testament, possesses the intestate inheritance, he must undoubtedly be compelled to restore the inheritance as well, just like legacies and other trusts, and also both direct and fideicommissary manumissions.
sed si alienos seruos rogatus sit manumittere, utique redimere eos debebit.
But if he was requested to manumit the slaves of another, he must by all means purchase them.
eam autem decessionem patietur is cui restituta fuerit hereditas, quam is qui ei restituit passurus fuit.
Moreover, he to whom the inheritance has been restored shall suffer the same deduction as he who restored it to him would have suffered.

Notes

  1. §29.4.28.prpriusquam adire iuberet — The implied subject of the infinitive adire is the preceding seruum. A slave appointed heir (heres institutus) in another's testament does not accept (adire) on his own initiative but by his master's order (iussus); hence, the slave is understood as the object of the verb iuberet (whose subject is dominus).
  2. §29.4.28.1omissa causa testamenti — An ablative absolute construction formed by omissa (perfect participle, feminine singular ablative) and causa (noun, feminine singular ablative). It expresses the condition or premise of the main clause, meaning 'having abandoned/omitted the basis of inheritance under the testament'.
  3. §29.4.28.1eam autem decessionem patietur is cui restituta fuerit hereditas, quam is qui ei restituit passurus fuit — A correlative structure 'eam... decessionem... quam...'. Within the relative clause, passurus fuit is an active periphrastic future conjugation consisting of the future active participle passurus and the auxiliary fuit, expressing a past intention or destiny ('was going to suffer' or 'would have suffered').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.4.28.pr-29.4.28.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.4.28.pr-29.4.28.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.