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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.59.pr

Master Repudiating a Legacy and Claiming Through a Slave

Passage 4786 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the legal outcome when a master rejects an unconditional legacy to himself but later wishes to claim a conditional legacy left to his slave upon the fulfillment of the condition, presenting a more equitable alternative view.

[TERENTIUS CLEMENS libro quinto decimo ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §31.0.59.prSi mihi pure, seruo meo uel pure uel sub condicione eadem res legata est egoque legatum quod mihi datum est repudiem, deinde condicione exsistente id, quod seruo meo legatum est, uellem ad me pertinere, partem legati deficere responsum est: nisi si quis dubitet, an exsistente condicione, si seruus uiuat, omnimodo legatum meum fiat, quod semel ad me pertinere uoluerim: quod aequius esse uidetur.
[TERENTIUS CLEMENS in the fifteenth book on the Lex Iulia et Papia.] If the same thing is bequeathed to me unconditionally, and to my slave either unconditionally or under a condition, and I should reject the legacy given to me, and then, upon the fulfillment of the condition, I should wish that which was bequeathed to my slave to belong to me, it was answered that a part of the legacy fails; unless indeed anyone should doubt whether, upon the fulfillment of the condition, if the slave is alive, it becomes my legacy in any event, since I have once wished it to belong to me; which seems more equitable.
idem est et si duobus seruis meis eadem res legetur.
The same holds true if the same thing is bequeathed to two of my slaves.

Notes

  1. 31.0.59.prpartem legati deficere responsum est — The impersonal passive main verb 'responsum est' governs the accusative and infinitive (AcI) construction 'partem legati deficere'. Here, 'deficere' means to fail or lapse. It reflects an earlier legal opinion that because the master rejected his direct share (mihi pure), only that part of the legacy fails, leaving the slave's part intact.
  2. 31.0.59.prnisi si quis dubitet, an ... fiat — The conjunction 'nisi si' introduces a conditional clause with the present subjunctive 'dubitet'. This in turn governs an indirect question introduced by 'an' (with the subjunctive 'fiat' as its verb). Clemens introduces a skeptical alternative to the previous opinion, suggesting that if the slave is alive when the condition is met, the whole legacy becomes the master's, which he deems more equitable (aequius).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.59.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.59.pr

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