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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §32.0.81.pr-32.0.81.5

Scope of Generic Terms for Slaves and Livestock in Legacies

Passage 4905 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus discusses the interpretive rules for generic terms used in bequests (such as slaves, children, women, and livestock) and which specific categories of gender, age, or animal type they encompass.

[MODESTINUS libro nono differentiarum. ] §32.0.81.prSeruis legatis etiam ancillas quidam deberi recte putant, quasi commune nomen utrumque sexum contineat: ancillis uero legatis masculos non deberi nemo dubitat.
[MODESTINUS, from his ninth book of Differences.] When slaves are bequeathed, some rightly think that female slaves also are owed, as if the common term contained both sexes; but when female slaves are bequeathed, no one doubts that male slaves are not owed.
sed pueris legatis etiam puellae debentur: id non aeque in puellis pueros contineri dicendum est.
But when boys are bequeathed, girls are also owed; as to this, it must not be said in the same way that boys are contained within girls.
§32.0.81.1Mulieribus uero legatis etiam uirgines debentur, sicuti uiris legatis etiam pueros deberi respondetur.
But when women are bequeathed, young girls are also owed, just as it is answered that when men are bequeathed, boys are also owed.
§32.0.81.2Pecudibus autem legatis et boues et cetera iumenta continentur.
But when livestock are bequeathed, both oxen and other beasts of burden are contained.
§32.0.81.3Armento autem legato etiam boues contineri conuenit, non etiam greges ouium et caprarum.
But when a herd is bequeathed, it is agreed that oxen are also contained, but not also flocks of sheep and goats.
§32.0.81.4Ouibus legatis neque agnos neque arietes contineri quidam recte existimant.
When sheep are bequeathed, some rightly judge that neither lambs nor rams are contained.
§32.0.81.5Ouium uero grege legato et arietes et agnos deberi nemo dubitat.
But when a flock of sheep is bequeathed, no one doubts that both rams and lambs are owed.

Notes

  1. 32.0.81.prseruis legatis — An ablative absolute construction consisting of a noun and a perfect participle, here expressing condition ('when/if ... are bequeathed'). This same syntactic pattern is repeated throughout the subsequent sections of this fragment (e.g., ancillis legatis, pueris legatis).
  2. 32.0.81.prquasi commune nomen utrumque sexum contineat — The conjunction quasi is used with the subjunctive contineat to express a hypothetical or subjective reason ('as if ... contained'). This introduces the rationale for interpreting the masculine noun serui as a generic term (commune nomen) encompassing both sexes.
  3. 32.0.81.prid non aeque in puellis pueros contineri dicendum est — The pronoun id (neuter singular) anticipatively refers in apposition to the following accusative and infinitive clause pueros ... contineri (that boys are contained within girls), functioning as the subject of the impersonal gerundive construction dicendum est.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §32.0.81.pr-32.0.81.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:32.0.81.pr-32.0.81.5

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