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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.107.pr-30.1.107.1

Pre-legacy for Fulfillment and Legacy of a Slave at Death

Passage 4703 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the legatee's right of choice when one of several heirs is ordered to take and perform legacies in advance, and the validity of bequeathing a slave (who had previously been left a legacy without freedom) at the time of the slave's death.

[AFRICANUS libro secundo quaestionum. ] §30.1.107.prSi a pluribus heredibus legata sint eaque unus ex his praecipere iubeatur et praestare, in potestate eorum, quibus sit legatam, debere esse ait, utrumne a singulis heredibus petere uelint an ab eo, qui praecipere sit iussus: itaque eum qui praecipere iussus est cauere debere coheredibus indemnes eos praestari.
[AFRICANUS, from the second book of Questions.] If legacies have been left by several heirs, and one of them is ordered to take them in advance and to pay them, he says that it should be in the power of those to whom they have been bequeathed, whether they wish to demand them from the individual heirs or from him who was ordered to take them in advance: therefore, he who was ordered to take them in advance must guarantee to his co-heirs that they will be kept harmless.
§30.1.107.1Si quis seruum, cui aliquid sine libertate legauerit, cum morietur ipse seruus, leget, minime dubitandum, quin utile legatum futurum sit, propterea scilicet, quod moriente seruo id quod ipsi legatum erit ad eum cui ipse legatus fuerit peruenturum sit.
If anyone bequeaths a slave, to whom he had bequeathed something without freedom, at the time when the slave himself shall die, it is not at all to be doubted that the legacy will be valid, namely for the reason that, upon the death of the slave, what was bequeathed to him will come to the person to whom he himself was bequeathed.

Notes

  1. §30.1.107.prpraecipere ... et praestare — This refers to a two-step process: 'praecipere' (to take a specific asset in advance before the division of the inheritance) and 'praestare' (to perform/deliver it to the legatee). It describes a situation where one of the co-heirs is ordered to take a portion of the estate in advance and perform the legacy from it.
  2. §30.1.107.prindemnes eos praestari — An accusative with infinitive clause serving as the object of 'cauere' (to guarantee/provide security). 'eos' refers to the co-heirs ('coheredibus'), and 'indemnes' is its predicative complement (accusative plural). 'praestari' is a passive infinitive, meaning 'that they [the co-heirs] be kept harmless'.
  3. §30.1.107.1cum morietur ipse seruus — This functions as a limit of time ('dies') specifying when the legacy ('leget') is to take effect, i.e., bequeathing the slave 'at the time when the slave himself shall die'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.107.pr-30.1.107.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.107.pr-30.1.107.1

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