[IDEM libro secundo de legatis ad edictum praetoris. ] §30.1.69.prSeruo legato legari posse receptum est, quod adita hereditate statim seruus adquiritur legatario, deinde sequetur legatum.
[THE SAME, Book 2 on Legacies, on the Edict of the Praetor.] It is accepted that a legacy can be left to a bequeathed slave, because upon the entry into the inheritance, the slave is immediately acquired by the legatee, and then the legacy follows.
§30.1.69.1Si seruum sub condicione legatum heres alienauerit, deinde condicio exstiterit, potest nihilo minus a legatario uindicari nec extinguitur legatum.
If the heir alienates a slave who was bequeathed under a condition, and subsequently the condition is fulfilled, the slave can nonetheless be claimed by the legatee, and the legacy is not extinguished.
§30.1.69.2Si testator quosdam ex heredibus iusserit aes alienum soluere, non creditores habebunt aduersus eos actionem, sed coheredes, quorum interest hoc fieri.
If a testator orders some of the heirs to pay a debt, the creditors will not have an action against them, but the co-heirs, whose interest it is that this be done, will.
nec solum hoc casu alius habet actionem, quam cui testator dari iussit, sed alio quoque, ueluti si filiae nomine genero aut sponso dotem dari iusserit: non enim gener aut sponsus, sed filia habet actionem, cuius maxime interest indotatam non esse.
And not only in this case does another person have an action than the one to whom the testator ordered [something] to be given, but also in another case, as for instance, if he orders a dowry to be given to a son-in-law or a betrothed husband in the name of his daughter; for it is not the son-in-law or the betrothed, but the daughter, whose greatest interest is not to be left without a dowry, who has the action.
§30.1.69.3Si fundus qui legatus est seruitutem debeat impositam, qualis est, dari debet: quod si ita legatus sit 'uti optimus maximusque', liber praestandus est.
If a tract of land which is bequeathed is subject to an imposed servitude, it must be given as it is; but if it is bequeathed in the terms "as best and greatest," it must be delivered free from encumbrance.
§30.1.69.4Seruus, qui in negotio fuerit, legatus non ante tradi debet quam rationes explicet, et si ad iudicium itum sit, iudicis eaedem partes esse debent.
A slave who was engaged in business, when bequeathed, ought not to be delivered before he renders his accounts; and if recourse is had to a judicial proceeding, the role of the judge ought to be the same.
§30.1.69.5Si res quae legata est an in rerum natura sit dubitetur, forte si dubium sit, an homo legatus uiuat, placuit agi quidem ex testamento posse, sed officio iudicis contineri, ut cautio interponeretur, qua heres caueret eam rem persecuturum et, si nactus sit, legatario restituturum.
If there is a doubt as to whether a thing bequeathed is still in existence—for example, if it is doubtful whether a bequeathed slave is alive—it was held that an action on the will can indeed be brought, but it is within the office of the judge that security should be given, by which the heir guarantees that he will search for the thing and, if he obtains it, restore it to the legatee.