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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.5.11.pr-3.5.11.2

Actions for Managing Deceased Persons' Estates and Utility

Passage 583 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses granting the action for unauthorized management of affairs to the successor of one who died among the enemy, or of a deceased soldier-son who left a will, and establishes that it is sufficient for the management to have been started usefully, regardless of the final outcome.

[ULPIANUS libro decimo ad edictum. ] §3.5.11.prSuccessori eius, cuius fuerunt negotia, qui apud hostes decessit, haec actio danda erit.
[ULPIANUS, on the edict, book ten] This action must be granted to the successor of him whose affairs they were, who died among the enemy.
§3.5.11.1Sed si filii familias militis defuncti testamento facto gessi, similiter erit danda actio.
But if I have managed the affairs of a son-in-power who was a soldier and died after making a testament, the action must similarly be granted.
§3.5.11.2Sicut autem in negotiis uiuorum gestis sufficit utiliter negotium gestum, ita et in bonis mortuorum, licet diuersus exitus sit secutus.
Furthermore, just as in the case of affairs managed for the living, it is sufficient that the business was usefully managed, so also in the case of the property of the deceased, even if a different outcome should have followed.

Notes

  1. §3.5.11.prSuccessori eius, cuius fuerunt negotia, qui apud hostes decessit — The dative 'successori' indicates the recipient of the action to be granted ('danda erit'). The antecedent 'eius' is modified by two relative clauses: 'cuius fuerunt negotia' and 'qui apud hostes decessit'. 'apud hostes' means 'among the enemy', referring to a Roman citizen dying as a captive.
  2. §3.5.11.1filii familias militis defuncti testamento facto gessi — 'gessi' is the first person singular perfect, with the subject 'I' omitted. The object 'negotia' (affairs) is also omitted and is limited by the genitives 'filii familias militis defuncti'. 'testamento facto' is an ablative absolute ('a testament having been made').
  3. §3.5.11.2utiliter negotium gestum — This functions as the subject clause of 'sufficit' (with 'esse' omitted), meaning 'that the business was usefully managed (or begun)'. The contrast with the subsequent 'diuersus exitus' (a different or unfavorable outcome) clarifies that the standard is whether the management was useful at its inception, not its final success.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.5.11.pr-3.5.11.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.5.11.pr-3.5.11.2

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