[POMPONIUS libro septimo ex Plautio. ] §31.0.11.prStatuliberum ab herede ne tunc quidem, cum dubia sit eius ex testamento libertas, legatum sine libertate accipere posse Labeo ait, quia seruus eius esset: sed si heres eandem condicionem legato inserat, quae libertati a testatore datae praeposita fuerit, ualet legatum: nam et si, cum moreretur heres, seruus liber esse iussus esset, recte sine libertate ci ab herede legari posse constitit, quia superuacuum sit ei libertatem dare, quam ex testamento heredis capturus non sit, sed ex testatoris habet.
[POMPONIUS, in the seventh book from Plautius.] Labeo says that a statuliber, even when his freedom under the will is doubtful, cannot receive a legacy from the heir without a grant of freedom, because he is the heir's slave; but if the heir inserts the same condition into the legacy as was attached to the freedom granted by the testator, the legacy is valid. For even if, when the heir dies, the slave has been ordered to be free, it is established that a legacy can rightly be bequeathed to him by the heir without freedom, because it would be superfluous to give him freedom which he is not going to receive from the will of the heir, but holds from that of the testator.
§31.0.11.1'Stichum aut Pamphilum, utrum heres meus uolet, Titio dato, dum, utrum uelit dare, eo die, quo testamentum meum recitatum erit, dicat'. si non dixerit heres, Pamphilum an Stichun dare malit, perinde obligatum eum esse puto, ac si Stichum aut Pamphilum dare damnatus esset, utrum legatarius elegerit.
'Let my heir give Titius either Stichus or Pamphilus, whichever he wishes, provided that he declares on the day my will is read which of them he wishes to give.' If the heir does not declare whether he prefers to give Pamphilus or Stichus, I think he is bound in the same way as if he had been condemned to give either Stichus or Pamphilus, whichever the legatee should choose.
si dixerit se Stichum dare uelle, Sticho mortuo liberari eum: si ante diem legati cedentem alter mortuus fuerit, alter qui supererit in obligatione manebit.
If he declares that he wishes to give Stichus, he is released upon the death of Stichus; if one of them dies before the day the legacy vests, the other who survives will remain subject to the obligation.
cum autem semel dixerit heres, utrum dare uelit, mutare sententiam non poterit.
However, once the heir has declared which of them he wishes to give, he cannot change his mind.
et ita et Iuliano placuit.
And this was also the opinion of Julianus.