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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.30.pr

Legacy for Road Repair with Unspecified Sum and Judge Discretion

Passage 4756 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Celsus delivers a decision on the validity of a legacy made to a municipality for road repairs without specifying the sum, and the role of the judge in determining the amount.

[IDEM libro trigesimo septimo digestorum. ] §31.0.30.prQuidam in testamento ita scripsit: 'rei publicae Grauiscanorum lego in tutelam uiac reficiendae, quae est in colonia eorum usque ad uiam Aureliam': quaesitum est, an hoc legatum ualeat.
[IDEM libro trigesimo septimo digestorum.] A certain person wrote as follows in his will: "I bequeath to the municipality of the Graviscans for the maintenance of repairing the road which is in their colony as far as the Aurelian Way." The question arose whether this legacy is valid.
Iuuentius Celsus respondit: propemodum quidem inperfecta est haec scriptura in tutelam Aureliae uiae, quia summa adscripta non est: potest tamen uideri tanta summa legata, quanta ei rei sufficeret: si modo non apparet aliam fuisse defuncti uoluntatem aut ex magnitudine eius pecuniae aut ex mediocritate facultatium, quam testatrix reliquit: tunc enim officio iudicis secundum aestimationem patrimonii et legati quantitas definiri potest.
Iuventius Celsus replied: this writing "for the maintenance of the Aurelian Way" is indeed virtually incomplete, because the sum has not been specified; nevertheless, it can be deemed that a sum as great as would suffice for that purpose was bequeathed, provided it does not appear that the intention of the deceased was otherwise, either from the magnitude of that money or from the smallness of the resources which the testatrix left; for in that case, the quantity of the legacy can be determined by the office of the judge according to the estimation of the patrimony.

Notes

  1. §31.0.30.pruiac — A scribal error for viae (of the road), as is clear from its agreement with the following gerundive reficiendae (to be repaired, genitive feminine singular).
  2. §31.0.30.prquanta ei rei sufficeret — The imperfect subjunctive sufficeret is used in a relative clause of characteristic or result, denoting the potential or estimated amount that "would be sufficient" based on the testator's purpose.
  3. §31.0.30.prtestatrix — While the preceding defuncti (the deceased) is in the masculine (or general) form, this word specifies that the actual testator who left the will was a female (testatrix).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.30.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.30.pr

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