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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.6.1.pr-29.6.1.2

Denial of Actions for Preventing Will Alteration

Passage 4574 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the ruling of the Divine Hadrian against those who unlawfully prevent the creation or modification of a will (denial of actions and escheat to the treasury). It specifically addresses cases involving fraud committed by a master on behalf of his slave, and joint fraud committed by multiple heirs.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §29.6.1.prQui dum captat hereditatem legitimam uel ex testamento, prohibuit testamentarium introire uolente eo facere testamentum uel mutare, diuus Hadrianus constituit denegari ei debere actiones denegatisque ei actionibus fisco locum fore.
[ULPIANUS in his forty-eighth book on the Edict.] Where a person, while seeking to obtain an inheritance either intestate or under a will, has prevented the testator, who wished to make or change a will, from entering, the Divine Hadrian ruled that actions ought to be denied to him, and that upon actions being denied to him, there would be room for the treasury.
§29.6.1.1Si dominus dolo fecerit, ne testamentum mutaretur, in quo seruus eius scriptus erat, quamuis manumissus adierit hereditatem, actiones ei denegantur, cum et liberis eius si quid fuerit datum, denegari debeat, etsi non fuerint in potestate.
If a master has acted with fraud to prevent a will from being changed, in which his slave was appointed heir, although the slave, having been manumitted, has entered upon the inheritance, actions are denied to him, since if anything has been given to his children, it ought to be denied, even if they were not in his power.
sed si legatum ei relictum sit idque restituere sit rogatus, consequens erit dicere admitti eum ad legatum, quod non ipse habuisset sed ad alium sit translaturus.
But if a legacy has been left to him, and he has been requested to restore it, the logical consequence will be to say that he is admitted to the legacy, because he would not have kept it for himself but was to transfer it to another.
§29.6.1.2Si plures heredes instituti sint et omnes dolo fecerint, quo minus testamentum mutaretur, dicendum est actiones omnibus denegari, quia omnes dolo fecerunt.
If several heirs have been appointed and all have acted with fraud to prevent the will from being changed, it must be said that actions are denied to all of them, because they all acted with fraud.

Notes

  1. §29.6.1.prQui ... prohibuit — The antecedent of the relative pronoun Qui is anticipated and expressed as the dative ei (in denegari ei debere) within the object clause (accusative with infinitive) of the main verb constituit.
  2. §29.6.1.prtestamentarium introire — testamentarium (the testator) is the subject accusative of the infinitive introire. It expresses that the testator was prevented from physically entering or proceeding with the making of the will.
  3. §29.6.1.pruolente eo — An ablative absolute construction where eo refers to the preceding testamentarium. It establishes the circumstance: 'when he wished to make or change a will'.
  4. §29.6.1.1dolo fecerit, ne — dolo facere (to act with fraud or intent) is followed by a negative purpose clause (ne with subjunctive).
  5. §29.6.1.1ei — The pronoun ei in actiones ei denegantur refers to the preceding manumissus (the manumitted slave), a measure designed to prevent the slave from benefiting from the master's fraud.
  6. §29.6.1.2dolo fecerint, quo minus — A subjunctive clause introduced by quo minus (lest, so as to prevent) used after expressions of hindrance or prevention, here indicating the prevention of the will's modification.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.6.1.pr-29.6.1.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.6.1.pr-29.6.1.2

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