Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.7.20.pr

Tablets Containing Only Legacies Regarded as Codicils

Passage 4596 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus supports Julian's view that if an heir is named orally and only legacies are recorded in writing, the tablets should be regarded as a codicil rather than a testament.

[PAULUS libro quinto ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §29.7.20.prSi palam heres nuncupatus sit, legata autem in tabulis collata fuerint, Iulianus ait tabulas testamenti non intellegi, quibus heres scriptus non est, et magis codicilli quam testamentum existimandae sint: et hoc puto rectius dici.
[PAULUS, in his fifth book on the Lex Julia et Papia.] If an heir has been named orally, but legacies have been gathered in tablets, Julian says that tablets in which an heir is not written are not understood as a testament, and they ought to be regarded as codicils rather than a testament; and I think that this is more correctly said.

Notes

  1. §29.7.20.prtabulas testamenti non intellegi — Accusative with infinitive construction (indirect speech) governed by Iulianus ait, where tabulas is the subject accusative and intellegi is the passive infinitive.
  2. §29.7.20.prexistimandae sint — Subjunctive present (third-person plural) used in the subordinate clause of indirect speech. It consists of the gerundive existimandae agreeing in gender and number with the subject tabulas and the subjunctive of esse to express passive obligation or propriety.
  3. §29.7.20.prpalam — An adverb meaning 'openly' or 'orally.' Here it refers to the oral nomination of an heir (nuncupatio) as opposed to being written in tablets (tabulae).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.7.20.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.7.20.pr

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.