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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.54.pr-30.1.54.3

Invalidity of Insulting Legacies and Frustrated Conditions

Passage 4650 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text addresses the invalidity of insulting legacies, remedies for legacies whose conditional fulfillment is frustrated by external circumstances (such as the death of a third party or a slave), and the division of legacy liability among heirs depending on who is charged.

[POMPONIUS libro octauo ad Sabinum. ] §30.1.54.prTurpia legata, quae denotandi magis legatarii gratia scribuntur, odio scribentis pro non scriptis habentur.
[POMPONIUS, Book 8 on Sabinus.] Shameful legacies, which are written more for the sake of branding the legatee with infamy, are, out of hatred of the writer, held as not written.
§30.1.54.1Si Titiae legatum relictum est, si arbitratu Seii nupsisset, et uiuo testatore Seius decessisset et ea nupsisset, legatum ei deberi.
If a legacy was left to Titia under the condition "if she should marry by the judgment of Seius," and Seius died while the testator was still alive and she married, the legacy is owed to her.
§30.1.54.2Sed et si serui mors impedisset manumissionem, cum tibi legatum esset, si eum manumisisses, nihilo minus debetur tibi legatum, quia per te non stetit, quo minus perueniat ad libertatem.
But also, if the death of the slave prevented his manumission, when a legacy had been left to you on the condition "if you should manumit him," the legacy is nonetheless owed to you, because it was not your fault that he did not attain freedom.
§30.1.54.3Si pars heredum nominata sit in legando, uiriles partes heredes debent, si uero omnes, hereditarias.
If a part of the heirs is named in charging the legacy, the heirs owe equal shares; but if all are named, they owe according to their hereditary shares.

Notes

  1. 30.1.54.prodio scribentis — The genitive 'scribentis' is best understood as an objective genitive ('out of hatred toward the writer [on the part of the law or society]'). Although it is grammatically possible to take it as a subjective genitive ('out of the writer's hatred [toward the legatee]'), the objective reading better explains the legal ground of invalidation as a sanction.
  2. 30.1.54.2per te non stetit, quo minus — The expression 'per aliquem stat, quo minus...' is an idiomatic formulation meaning 'it is someone's fault that... is prevented.' Here, combined with the negation 'non', it means 'it was not your fault that his attainment of freedom was prevented,' representing the legal doctrine of constructive fulfillment of a condition.
  3. 30.1.54.3si uero omnes, hereditarias — This is an elliptical structure to be understood as 'si uero omnes [heredes nominati sint in legando], hereditarias [partes heredes debent].' It contrasts the situation where only some heirs are named (who must owe equal shares, 'uiriles partes') with that where all heirs are charged, in which case they owe according to their respective hereditary shares ('hereditarias partes').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.54.pr-30.1.54.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.54.pr-30.1.54.3

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