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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.6.pr

Impossibility of Partial Acceptance in Legacies of Collective Things

Passage 4732 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses that when a collective group such as a flock, a peculium, or clothing is bequeathed, it is impossible to accept some parts and reject others, as it is considered a single legacy.

[IDEM libro singulari ad legem Falcidiam. ] §31.0.6.prGrege autem legato non potest quaedam sperni, quaedam uindicari, quia non plura, sed unum legatum est.
[THE SAME, in the single volume on the Falcidian Law] However, when a flock is bequeathed, some [animals] cannot be rejected and others claimed, because it is not several legacies, but one that has been bequeathed.
idemque dicemus peculio legato aut ueste aut argento et similibus.
And we shall say the same when a peculium is bequeathed, or clothing, or silver, and similar things.

Notes

  1. 31.0.6.prGrege autem legato — Ablative absolute consisting of grege (ablative of grex, flock, masculine) and legato (perfect passive participle ablative of legare, to bequeath), meaning 'when a flock is bequeathed'.
  2. 31.0.6.prquaedam sperni, quaedam uindicari — quaedam is either the feminine plural nominative of quidam (referring to individual animals like oves, 'sheep', which is feminine) or the neuter plural nominative. Although the main verb potest is singular, quaedam is plural; the passive infinitives sperni and uindicari construct a clause representing what 'cannot' happen.
  3. 31.0.6.prpeculio legato aut ueste aut argento — Ablative absolute. The perfect passive participle legato (neuter singular ablative) grammatically agrees with the adjacent noun peculio (neuter singular ablative), but semantically applies to the subsequent nouns ueste (feminine singular ablative) and argento (neuter singular ablative), each forming a parallel ablative absolute.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.6.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.6.pr

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