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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §32.0.18.pr

Effect of an Invalid Subsequent Will on Prior Trusts

Passage 4839 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses whether a prior valid trust is invalidated by a subsequent invalid will that alters or omits it, concluding that the revocation of the prior will is conditional on the subsequent one being legally valid.

[POMPONIUS libro primo fideicommissorum. ] §32.0.18.prSi iure testamento facto fideicommissum tibi reliquero, deinde postea aliud fecero non iure, in quo fideicommissum relictum tibi uel aliud quam quod priore testamento uel omnino non sit relictum, uidendum est, mens mea hacc fuerit facientis postea testamentum, ut nolim ratum tibi sit priore testamento relictum, quia nuda uoluntate fideicommissa infirmarentur.
[POMPONIUS from the first book on Trusts.] If I have left a trust to you by a legally executed will, and subsequently make another one not legally executed, in which the trust left to you is either different from what was in the prior will, or is not left at all, it must be considered whether my intention in subsequently making the will was that I did not wish what was left to you in the prior will to be valid, because trusts can be invalidated by mere intention.
sed uix id optinere potest, fortassis ideo, quod ita demum a priore testamento uelim recedi, si posterius ualiturum sit et nunc ex posteriore testamento fideicommissum ei non debetur, etiamsi idem heredes utroque testamento instituti ex priore exstiterunt.
But this can hardly be maintained, perhaps for this reason, that I should wish to depart from the prior will only if the subsequent one were to be valid, and now no trust is owed to him under the subsequent will, even if the same heirs appointed in both wills have succeeded under the prior one.

Notes

  1. §32.0.18.prmens mea hacc fuerit facientis — haec (spelled hacc in the text) is a demonstrative adjective anticipating the subsequent ut-clause. The genitive present participle facientis agrees with the first-person singular genitive (mei) implied in the possessive adjective mea ('my, [of me] who makes...').
  2. §32.0.18.prinfirmarentur — The subjunctive imperfect represents a hypothetical possibility (that trusts could be invalidated by mere intention) or expresses a subjective reason within the context of the inquiry introduced by uidendum est.
  3. §32.0.18.prita demum a priore testamento uelim recedi, si posterius ualiturum sit — A correlative expression meaning 'only then (ita demum)... if (si)..., I should wish (uelim) to depart', indicating a strict conditional restriction on the writer's intention. recedi is an impersonal passive infinitive.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §32.0.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:32.0.18.pr

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