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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.37.pr-30.1.37.1

Quality Standards and Heir's Choice in Generic Legacies

Passage 4633 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the standard of average quality in generic legacies, including the exclusion of slave managers by imperial rescript, and the heir's right of choice when a specific object (estate or dish) was intended but remains ambiguous.

[ULPIANUS libro uicesimo primo ad Sabinum. ] §30.1.37.prLegato generaliter relicto, ueluti hominis, Gaius Cassius scribit id esse obseruandum, ne optimus uel pessimus accipiatur: quae sententia rescripto imperatoris nostri et diui Seueri iuuatur, qui rescripserunt homine legato actorem non posse eligi.
[ULPIANUS, Book 21 on Sabinus.] When a legacy is left in general terms, such as of a slave, Gaius Cassius writes that this rule must be observed, namely, that neither the best nor the worst is to be accepted; this opinion is supported by a rescript of our Emperor and the divine Severus, who wrote in reply that when a slave is bequeathed, an agent cannot be selected.
§30.1.37.1Si de certo fundo sensit testator nec appareat de quo cogitauit, electio heredis erit, quem uelit dare: aut si appareat, ipse fundus uindicabitur.
If the testator had a specific estate in mind, and it does not appear which one he thought of, the choice will belong to the heir, whichever he wishes to give; or if it does appear, that estate itself will be claimed.
Sed et si lancem legauerit nec appareat quam, aeque electio est heredis, quam uelit dare.
But also if he has bequeathed a dish, and it does not appear which one, likewise the choice belongs to the heir, whichever he wishes to give.

Notes

  1. 30.1.37.prhominis — In Roman legal sources, the noun 'homo' used in a generic sense refers specifically to a 'slave' rather than a human being in general. The legacy of an unspecified slave is a classic example of a legacy of a genus (legatum generis).
  2. 30.1.37.practorem — The term 'actor' refers to a slave manager or agent in charge of estates. Because such highly skilled and responsible slaves possess exceptional value, they are excluded from the scope of 'average quality' that the heir must deliver or the legatee can choose in a generic legacy.
  3. 30.1.37.1quem uelit dare — Clear indication of the referent through the grammatical gender of the relative pronoun. In the first half, 'quem' (masculine accusative singular) refers back to 'fundus' (estate, masculine); in the second half, 'quam' (feminine accusative singular) refers back to 'lancem' (dish, accusative of 'lanx', feminine). In both clauses, the verb 'uelit' is in the present subjunctive, expressing a hypothetical choice within the relative clause.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.37.pr-30.1.37.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.37.pr-30.1.37.1

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