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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §31.0.8.pr-31.0.8.5

Rules on Runaway Slaves, Alternative Legacies, and Disputes

Passage 4734 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Various legal rules on legacies are provided, including the allocation of costs for runaway slaves, alternative legacies, shortages in quantity, disputes between multiple claimants of the same name, and the deduction limits in the legacy of a portion of an inheritance.

[IDEM libro nono ad Plautium. ] §31.0.8.prSi quis seruum heredis uel alienum legauerit et is fugisset, cautiones interponendae sunt de reducendo eo: sed si quidem uiuo testatore fugerit, expensis legatarii reducitur, si post mortem, sumptibus heredis.
[THE SAME, in the ninth book on Plautius.] If anyone bequeaths a slave belonging to the heir or to another person, and that slave has fled, securities must be provided for bringing him back: but if indeed he fled during the lifetime of the testator, he is brought back at the expense of the legatee; if after death, at the cost of the heir.
§31.0.8.1Si ita legetur: 'Sempronio decem aut, si noluerit, hominem Stichum lego', hoc casu duo legata sunt, sed uni contentus esse debet.
If it is bequeathed thus: "I bequeath ten to Sempronius, or, if he does not wish, the slave Stichus," in this case there are two legacies, but he must be content with one.
§31.0.8.2Si quis legauerit ex illo dolio amphoras decem, etsi non decem, sed pauciores inueniri possint, non exstinguitur legatum, sed hoc tantummodo accipit, quod inuenitur.
If anyone bequeaths ten amphorae from that jar, even if ten cannot be found, but fewer, the legacy is not extinguished, but he receives only that which is found.
§31.0.8.3Si inter duos dubitetur de eodem legato, cui potius dari oportet, ut puta si Titio relictum est et duo eiusdem nominis amici testatoris ueniant et legatum petant et heres soluere paratus sit, deinde ambo defendere heredem parati sint, eligere debere heredem, cui soluat, ut ab eo defendatur.
If there is a doubt between two persons concerning the same legacy as to which of them it ought rather to be given, as for instance if it was left to "Titius," and two friends of the testator of the same name appear and claim the legacy, and the heir is ready to pay, and then both are ready to defend the heir, the heir must choose to whom he will pay, so that he may be defended by him.
§31.0.8.4Certam pecuniam legatam si et legatarius et substituti legatarii peterent et heres soluere paratus sit, si ambo defendere heredem parati sint, eligere debet heres cui soluat, ut ab eo defendatur: et, si neutrius manifesta calumnia uideatur, ei potius soluendum, cui primum legatum est.
If both the legatee and the substitute legatees claim a certain sum of money bequeathed, and the heir is ready to pay, if both are ready to defend the heir, the heir must choose to whom he will pay, so that he may be defended by him; and, if the manifest bad faith of neither is apparent, payment should rather be made to him to whom it was first bequeathed.
§31.0.8.5Si cui certam partem hereditatis legauero, diuus Hadrianus rescripsit, ut neque pretia manumissorum neque funeris impensa deduceretur.
If I bequeath a certain part of the inheritance to anyone, the divine Hadrian wrote in a rescript that neither the value of those manumitted nor the expenses of the funeral should be deducted.

Notes

  1. 31.0.8.prexpensis legatarii ... sumptibus heredis — The ablatives expensis and sumptibus denote the means or cause ('at the expense/cost of'), with the accompanying genitives legatarii and heredis indicating the subjects who bear these costs.
  2. 31.0.8.3eligere debere heredem — The accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction is used for the main clause following the conditional clause. In the context of a jurist's opinion (responsum), a verb of thinking or judging (such as 'it is held' or 'it was decided') is omitted, or it reflects indirect speech.
  3. 31.0.8.4ei potius soluendum — The word soluendum is a gerundive used impersonally (implying 'soluendum esse') to express obligation ('payment must be made'). The dative ei is not a dative of agent, but the recipient of the payment ('to him').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §31.0.8.pr-31.0.8.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:31.0.8.pr-31.0.8.5

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