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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.66.pr

Validity of Legacies Ordering Sale or Purchase at Fair Price

Passage 4662 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the validity and practical utility of a legacy where the testator orders the heir to buy or sell a property at a fair price.

[IDEM libro octauo decimo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §30.1.66.prEtsi aequo pretio emere uel uendere iusserit heredem suum testator, adhuc utile legatum est.
[THE SAME, Book 18 on the Provincial Edict.] Even if the testator has ordered his heir to buy or sell at a fair price, the legacy is still valid.
quid enim si legatum est. tarius, a quo emere fundum heres iussus est, cum ex necessitate eum fundum uenderet, nullum inueniret emptorem? uel ex diuerso quid si legatarii magni interesset eum fundum emere nec aliter heres uenditurus esset, quam si testator iussisset?
For what if the legatee, from whom the heir was ordered to buy the land, when he was selling that land out of necessity, should find no buyer? Or, conversely, what if it were of great importance to the legatee to buy that land, and the heir would not have sold it otherwise than if the testator had ordered it?

Notes

  1. 30.1.66.prlegatum est. tarius — The text 'legatum est. tarius' is a manuscript corruption or clerical error, and in this context clearly stands for 'legatarius' (the legatee). Grammatically, it serves as the antecedent of the relative clause starting with 'a quo' and the subject of 'inueniret' in the conditional clause.
  2. 30.1.66.prmagni interesset — A construction combining the impersonal verb 'interest' (it is of importance) with the genitive of value 'magni' (of great) indicating the degree of importance, and the genitive 'legatarii' representing the person concerned. It means 'if it were of great importance to the legatee'.
  3. 30.1.66.pruenditurus esset — An active periphrastic conjugation combining the future participle 'uenditurus' of the verb 'uendo' and the imperfect subjunctive 'esset' of 'sum'. It expresses intention, likelihood, or a counterfactual readiness to sell at a past time.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.66.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.66.pr

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