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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.1.5.pr

Death of Legatee Mid-Year and Claim to Full Annual Legacy

Passage 4932 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Regarding an annual legacy to a wife who survived her husband by five years and four months, Modestinus answers that the legacy of the newly entered sixth year is due in full to her heirs.

[MODESTINUS libro decimo responsorum. ] §33.1.5.pr'A uobis quoque, ceteri heredes, peto, ut uxori meae praestetis, quoad uiueret, annuos decem aureos'. uxor superuixit marito quinquennio et quattuor mensibus: quaero, an heredibus eius sexti anni legatum integrum debeatur.
[MODESTINUS, book ten of Opinions.] 'From you also, remaining heirs, I request that you provide to my wife, as long as she should live, ten aurei annually.' The wife survived her husband by five years and four months: I ask whether the legacy of the sixth year is due in full to her heirs.
Modestinus respondit integri sexti anni legatum deberi.
Modestinus replied that the legacy of the entire sixth year is due.

Notes

  1. §33.1.5.prquinquennio et quattuor mensibus — Ablative. It functions as an ablative of measure of difference with the verb superuixit, indicating the exact amount of time by which the wife outlived her husband.
  2. §33.1.5.prdebeatur — Subjunctive present passive. This is the predicate of the indirect question introduced by the interrogative particle an. Modestinus' reply uses the corresponding accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction with deberi. This is based on the principle that for annual legacies, the right to the legacy vests (dies cedit) at the beginning of each year, making the entire legacy for the sixth year (integrum) due as soon as that year has commenced.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.1.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.1.5.pr

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