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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.5.21.pr-29.5.21.2

Possession During Inquiries and Trust Forfeiture

Passage 4567 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the effect of a poisoning inquiry on the timeline for petitioning for possession, the treatment of trusts when an heir fails to prosecute the death of the deceased, and the retention of inheritance rights when a wrongful acquittal occurs due to the governor's injustice.

[IDEM libro sexto responsorum. ] §29.5.21.prPropter ueneni quaestionem tempus petendae possessionis non profertur, cum eo quoque suspenso crimine recte petatur.
[THE SAME in his sixth book of Opinions.] By reason of an inquiry into poisoning, the time for petitioning for possession is not extended, since it is properly petitioned for even while that accusation is suspended.
aliud senatui placuit, cum a familia dominus necatus dicitur, seruorum uidelicet causa, quorum libertatem quaestionis habendae gratia neglegi necesse est.
A different rule was approved by the senate when a master is said to have been killed by his household slaves, obviously for the sake of the slaves, whose freedom must be disregarded for the sake of holding an inquiry.
§29.5.21.1Neptis, quae possessionem auiae petierat, mortem eius interfectam sciens non defenderat.
A granddaughter, who had petitioned for possession of her grandmother's estate, did not prosecute her death, knowing that she had been killed.
fideicommissum, quod auia ex alio testamento nepti debuit, in restituendis fisco bonis non esse deducendum placuit: dolus enim heredis punitus est.
It was decided that a trust, which the grandmother owed to the granddaughter under another will, should not be deducted when restoring the property to the treasury; for the bad faith of the heir was punished.
si autem neglegentia mulier emolumentum bonorum amiserit, fideicommissum esse retinendum integrato iure debiti rationis est.
If, however, the woman lost the benefit of the property through negligence, it is reasonable that the trust should be retained, with the right of the debt being restored.
§29.5.21.2Praesidis iniquitate reis illatae caedis absolutis heredibus, qui non defunctorie debitum officium impleuerant, quamuis non prouocassent, hereditatem auferri non oportere uisum est.
When the defendants accused of the murder committed were acquitted through the injustice of the governor, it was held that the inheritance ought not to be taken away from the heirs who had not cursorily fulfilled their duty, even though they had not appealed.

Notes

  1. §29.5.21.preo quoque suspenso crimine — eo ... crimine suspenso is an ablative absolute. The particle quoque ("also/even") is inserted to mean "even while that criminal charge is suspended (undecided)". The conjunction cum takes the subjunctive petatur to form a concessive (or causal) clause.
  2. §29.5.21.1mortem eius interfectam sciens — interfectam is a perfect passive participle (accusative feminine singular) directly modifying mortem, but semantically it denotes the entire event: "knowing that her death was by murder" (i.e., "knowing that she had been killed").
  3. §29.5.21.2reis ... absolutis heredibus ... auferri ... uisum est — A highly complex word order. reis illatae caedis absolutis is an ablative absolute ("when the defendants accused of the murder committed were acquitted"), which is modified by praesidis iniquitate ("by the injustice of the governor"). heredibus is a dative of separation depending on the passive infinitive auferri ("to be taken away"). The core structure is: "it was held (uisum est) that the inheritance (hereditatem) ought not to be taken away (auferri) from the heirs (heredibus) even when the defendants were acquitted."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.5.21.pr-29.5.21.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.5.21.pr-29.5.21.2

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