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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.19.pr

Finality and Irrevocability of Alternative Legacy Claims

Passage 4745 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that a legatee of an alternative bequest who mistakenly claims one of the options cannot change their claim, comparing this to an heir with an alternative obligation who performs one option without knowing of the choice and cannot recover it.

[IDEM libro octauo decimo digestorum. ] §31.0.19.prSi is, cui legatus sit Stichus aut Pamphilus, cum Stichum sibi legatum putaret, uindicauerit, amplius mutandae uindicationis ius non habet: tamquam si damnatus heres alterutrum dare Stichum dederit, cum ignoret sibi permissum uel Pamphilum dare, nihil repetere possit.
[THE SAME, in the eighteenth book of his digests.] If a person to whom Stichus or Pamphilus was bequeathed, thinking that Stichus alone had been bequeathed to him, has claimed him, he no longer has the right to change his claim; just as if an heir, who is condemned to give either one of the two, has given Stichus while being ignorant that he was also permitted to give Pamphilus, he can recover nothing.

Notes

  1. §31.0.19.prmutandae uindicationis — A gerundive construction where the gerundive `mutandae` agrees with the genitive noun `uindicationis`, forming a genitive phrase modifying the noun `ius` ("the right of changing").
  2. §31.0.19.prtamquam si... possit — The comparative conjunction `tamquam si` ("just as if") introduces a conditional clause, with the main verb of the comparison in the present subjunctive (`possit`). It illustrates the irrevocability of the legatee's claim by comparing it to the heir's inability to recover a choice already paid.
  3. §31.0.19.prsibi permissum uel Pamphilum dare — An accusative with infinitive construction functioning as the object of `ignoret`. The infinitive clause `uel Pamphilum dare` acts as the subject of the impersonal passive `permissum [esse]` ("that it was permitted to him to give even Pamphilus").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.19.pr

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