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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.33.pr-31.0.33.1

Proportional Liability for Legacies and Burden under Codicils

Passage 4759 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses that the liability for legacies is proportional to hereditary shares without burdening co-heirs for insolvent ones, and that additional legacies in a codicil are to be paid by the specific heirs designated in the will.

[IDEM libro nono responsorum. ] §31.0.33.prRespondit: legatorum petitio aduersus heredes pro partibus hereditariis competit nec pro his qui soluendo non sunt onerari coheredes oportet.
[THE SAME, from the Ninth Book of Responses.] He replied: the petition for legacies lies against the heirs in proportion to their hereditary shares, and co-heirs ought not to be burdened on behalf of those who are not solvent.
§31.0.33.1Qui plures heredes instituit, testamento a quibusdam nominatim reliquit legata, postea codicillos ad omnes heredes scripsit: quaero, quae legata debeant.
A person who appointed several heirs left legacies in his testament specifically to be paid by certain heirs, and later wrote a codicil to all the heirs: I ask, which legacies are due.
Modestinus respondit: cum manifeste testator testamento expresserit, a quibus heredibus legata praestari uellet, licet codicillos ad omnes scripserit, apparet tamen ea quae codicillis dedit ab his praestanda esse, quos munere fungi debere testamento suo ostendit testator.
Modestinus replied: since the testator clearly expressed in his testament from which heirs he wished the legacies to be paid, although he wrote a codicil to all of them, it is nevertheless apparent that those things which he gave by the codicil are to be paid by those whom the testator showed in his testament ought to perform this duty.

Notes

  1. 31.0.33.prsoluendo non sunt — The gerund 'soluendo' is in the dative case. 'Soluendo esse' is a legal idiom meaning 'to be solvent'; here, with 'non', it refers to heirs who are insolvent.
  2. 31.0.33.1a quibusdam — Ellipsis for 'a quibusdam heredibus' (by certain heirs). It indicates that the burden of paying the legacies was specifically imposed upon only some of the co-heirs in the testament.
  3. 31.0.33.1ab his praestanda esse, quos munere fungi debere testamento suo ostendit testator — An accusative with infinitive clause serving as the subject of the impersonal verb 'apparet'. The subject of 'praestanda esse' (must be performed) is 'ea quae codicillis dedit'. Within the relative clause, 'quos ... debere' is an accusative with infinitive serving as the object of 'ostendit', and 'fungi' (to perform) governs the ablative 'munere'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.33.pr-31.0.33.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.33.pr-31.0.33.1

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