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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.51.pr-31.0.51.1

Legacies of Maximum Allowed and Adoption Under Grace Periods

Passage 4778 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the vesting time of a legacy written to give the maximum allowed by law, and the ruling that a legatee given a grace period under the Lex Julia et Papia to have children cannot satisfy this condition through adoption.

[ULPIANUS libro octauo ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §31.0.51.prSi ita quis testamento suo cauisset: 'illi quantum plurimum per legem accipere potest dari uolo', utique tunc, cum quando capere potuerit, uidetur ei relictum.
[ULPIAN, in the eighth book on the Lex Julia et Papia.] If anyone should have provided in his will as follows: "I wish to be given to him as much as he is able to take under the law," it is certain that it is deemed to have been bequeathed to him at the very time when he shall be able to take it.
sed et si dixerit: 'quam maximam partem dare possum, damnas esto heres meus ei dare', idem erit dicendum. §31.0.51.1Is cui in tempus liberorum tertia pars relicta est, utique non poterit adoptando tertiam partem consequi.
But even if he should have said: "Let my heir be bound to give him the largest share that I am able to give," the same must be said. He to whom a third part has been bequeathed pending the time of having children cannot by any means obtain that third part by adopting.

Notes

  1. 31.0.51.prdamnas esto — A standard formula for creating a legacy by condemnation (legatum per damnationem), casting an obligation upon the heir (heres meus) to perform a specific act. Here it commands the heir to give the legacy to the beneficiary.
  2. 31.0.51.1in tempus liberorum — Refers to a specific grace period allowed under the Lex Julia et Papia for having biological children. While failure to have children during this time would affect the legacy, the passage rules that this condition cannot be satisfied by means of adoption (adoptando).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.51.pr-31.0.51.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.51.pr-31.0.51.1

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