[POMPONIUS libro octauo ad Quintum Mucium. ] §33.1.7.prQuintus Mucius ait: si quis in testamento ita scripsit: 'filii filiaeque meae ibi sunto, ubi eos mater sua esse uolet, eisque heres meus in annos singulos inque pueros puellasque singulas damnas esto dare cibarii nomine aureos decem': si tutores eam pecuniam dare nolunt ei, apud quem pueri atque puellae sunt, nihil est, quod ex testamento agere possit: nam ea res eo pertinet, uti tutores sciant, quae uoluntas testatoris fuit, uti possint eam pecuniam sine periculo dare.
[POMPONIUS, book eight on Quintus Mucius.] Quintus Mucius says: if anyone has written in a testament as follows: 'My sons and daughters shall be where their mother wishes them to be, and my heir shall be under obligation to give them ten aurei each year, for each boy and girl, under the name of maintenance': if the tutors do not wish to give that money to the person with whom the boys and girls are, there is nothing for which one can bring an action under the testament. For that provision is relevant to this: that the tutors may know what the will of the testator was, so that they can give that money without danger.
POMPONIUS. In testamentis quaedam scribuntur, quae ad auctoritatem dumtaxat scribentis referuntur nec obligationem pariunt.
POMPONIUS. In testaments some things are written which refer only to the authority of the writer and do not produce an obligation.
haec autem talia sunt. si te heredem solum instituam et scribam, uti monumentum mihi certa pecunia facias: nullam enim obligationem ea scriptura recipit, sed ad auctoritatem meam conseruandam poteris, si uelis, facere.
These are of such a kind: if I institute you as sole heir and write that you should build a monument for me with a certain amount of money, for that writing accepts no obligation, but to preserve my authority you will be able to do it if you wish.
aliter atque si coherede tibi dato idem scripsero: nam siue te solum damnauero, uti monumentum facias, coheres tuus agere tecum poterit familiae herciscundae, uti facias, quoniam interest illius: quin etiam si utrique iussi estis hoc facere, inuicem actionem habebitis.
It is otherwise if, with a co-heir given to you, I write the same thing; for even if I have charged you alone to make the monument, your co-heir will be able to bring an action for dividing the inheritance against you, so that you make it, since it is in his interest; nay, even if both of you are ordered to do this, you will have an action against each other.
ad auctoritatem scribentis hoc quoque pertinet, cum quis iussit in municipio imagines poni: nam si non honoris municipii gratia id fecisset, sed sua, actio eo nomine nulli competit.
To the authority of the writer belongs also this, when anyone has ordered statues to be placed in a municipality; for if he did this not for the sake of the honor of the municipality, but for his own, no action lies for anyone on that account.
itaque haec Quinti Mucii scriptura: 'liberi mei ibi sunto, ubi eos mater sua esse uolet' nullam obligationem parit, sed ad auctoritatem defuncti conseruandam id pertinebit, ut ubi iusserit ibi sint.
Therefore, this writing of Quintus Mucius: 'My children shall be where their mother wishes them to be' produces no obligation, but it will pertain to preserving the authority of the deceased, so that they may be where he ordered.
nec tamen semper uoluntas eius aut iussum conseruari debet, ueluti si praetor doctus sit non expedire pupillum eo morari, ubi pater iusserit, propter uitium, quod pater forte ignorauit in eis personis esse, apud quas morari iussit.
Yet, his will or order ought not always to be preserved, for instance, if the praetor is informed that it is not expedient for the pupil to stay where his father ordered, because of some vice which the father perhaps did not know existed in those persons with whom he ordered them to stay.
si autem pro cibariis eorum in annos singulos aurei decem relicti sint, siue hoc sermone significantur, apud quos morari mater pupillos uoluerit, siue ita acceperimus hunc sermonem, ut ipsis filiis id legatum debeatur, utile erit: et magis enim est, ut prouidentia filiorum suorum hoc fecisse uideatur.
If, however, ten aurei are left each year for their maintenance, whether by this expression those persons are meant with whom the mother wished the pupils to stay, or whether we take this expression in such a way that the legacy is due to the children themselves, it will be valid; for indeed it is more likely that he is seen to have done this out of foresight for his children.
et in omnibus, ubi auctoritas sola testatoris est, neque omnimodo spernenda neque omnimodo obseruanda est.
And in all cases where there is only the authority of the testator, it must neither be entirely spurned nor entirely observed.
sed interuentu iudicis haec omnia debent, si non ad turpem causam feruntur, ad effectum perduci.
But by the intervention of a judge all these things ought, if they are not directed to a shameful purpose, to be carried into effect.