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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.40.pr

Bequest to Two Slaves and Refusal of One Share

Passage 4767 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains the legal principle that if the same thing is bequeathed to two of one's slaves, and the owner refuses to acquire it through one of them, the owner will still acquire the whole thing through the other slave.

[IDEM libro primo epistularum. ] §31.0.40.prSi duobus seruis meis eadem res legata est et alterius serui nomine ad me eam pertinere nolo, totum ad me pertinebit, quia partem alterius serui per alterum seruum adquiro, perinde ac si meo et alterius seruo esset legatum.
[THE SAME, in the first book of his Epistles.] If the same thing is bequeathed to two of my slaves, and I do not wish it to belong to me in the name of one of the slaves, the whole will belong to me, because I acquire the share of the one slave through the other slave, just as if the bequest had been made to my slave and to the slave of another.

Notes

  1. 31.0.40.prpartem alterius serui per alterum seruum — The two instances of alter (alterius and alterum) refer to the two different slaves. The former, alterius, refers to the slave through whom the owner does not wish to acquire, and the latter, alterum, refers to the other slave. Thus, the phrase means "I acquire the share of the one (rejected) slave through the other slave."
  2. 31.0.40.prmeo et alterius seruo — The pronoun meo is a dative masculine singular qualifying seruo ("to my slave"), while alterius is a genitive singular meaning "of another person," which also modifies seruo. Thus, it is an elliptical construction for meo seruo et alterius [hominis] seruo ("to my slave and to the slave of another").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.40.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.40.pr

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