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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §32.0.75.pr

Interpretation of Indefinite Money Bequests

Passage 4899 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It presents the rule that when coins are bequeathed without distinction and cannot be specified by the testator's habit, regional custom, or the context of the will, they are deemed to be of the smaller value.

[ULPIANUS libro nicesimo ad Sabinum. ] §32.0.75.prNummis indistincte legatis hoc receptum est, ut exiguiores legati uideantur, si neque ex consuetudine patris familiae neque ex regionis, unde fuit, neque ex contextu testamenti possit apparere.
[ULPIANUS, from his twentieth book on Sabinus.] coins are bequeathed without distinction, it is accepted that the smaller coins are deemed to have been bequeathed, if this cannot be made clear either from the habit of the head of the household, or from that of the region where he belonged, or from the context of the will.

Notes

  1. §32.0.75.prhoc receptum est, ut exiguiores legati uideantur — The pronoun hoc, which serves as the subject of the passive verb receptum est ('is accepted'), is explained in apposition by the noun clause introduced by ut containing the subjunctive uideantur.
  2. §32.0.75.prneque ex regionis — The noun consuetudine is omitted from the preceding phrase ex consuetudine, so that it means 'from the custom/habit of the region'.
  3. §32.0.75.prexiguiores legati uideantur — The comparative nominative plural adjective exiguiores (from exiguus, 'scanty, small') modifies the implied subject nummi ('coins'). legati is the nominative plural of the perfect participle, representing an infinitive construction with omitted esse (legati esse, 'to have been bequeathed'). Literally, 'the smaller [coins] seem to have been bequeathed'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §32.0.75.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:32.0.75.pr

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