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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.5.26.pr

Accepting Fideicommissum and Accusing Heirs of Unworthiness

Passage 4572 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Scaevola answers that Titius, who had received a trust from the heirs of Gaius Seius which Seius owed him under a paternal cousin's will, is not barred from accusing those heirs as unworthy on the ground of their failure to avenge Seius's death.

[SCAEUOLA libro trigesimo quarto digestorum. ] §29.5.26.prFideicommissum, quod ex testamento fratris patruelis Gaius Seius Titio debebat, ab heredibus Seii Titius accepit: quaesitum est, cum necem Gaii Seii heredes eius non uindicauerint, an Titius nihilo minus eos heredes ut indignos accusare possit ob id, quod necem eius non uindicauerint, nec obsit ei, quod ab isdem fideicommissum ex testamento fratris patruelis consecutus sit.
[SCAEVOLA in his thirty-fourth book of Digests.] Titius received from the heirs of Seius the trust which Gaius Seius owed to Titius under the will of his paternal cousin. The question was, since the heirs of Gaius Seius did not avenge his death, whether Titius could nevertheless accuse those heirs as unworthy on the ground that they did not avenge his death, and whether it would not stand in his way that he had obtained from those same heirs the trust under the will of the paternal cousin.
respondit nihil proponi, cur obstaret.
He answered that nothing was presented why it should stand in his way.

Notes

  1. §29.5.26.prfratris patruelis — A noun phrase referring to a 'paternal cousin' (the son of a father's brother). Here, it indicates that under the will of Gaius Seius's paternal cousin, Gaius Seius himself was burdened with the duty to pay the fideicommissum to Titius.
  2. §29.5.26.prnec obsit — Subjunctive present. It is connected to the indirect question clause introduced by an (i.e., an... possit ... nec [an] obsit), expressing 'and whether it does not bar...'. In the sequence of tenses (consecutio temporum) following the historical main verb quaesitum est, the present subjunctive (and perfect subjunctive consecutus sit in the subordinate clause) is used to emphasize the present, ongoing legal effect.
  3. §29.5.26.prnihil proponi, cur obstaret — An accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction depending on the verb respondit. The present passive infinitive proponi takes the relative clause of characteristic (or indirect question) cur obstaret (imperfect subjunctive). The phrase translates to 'that nothing was presented why it should bar him.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.5.26.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.5.26.pr

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