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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.2.18.pr

Invalidity of Habitation Bequests Lacking Designation

Passage 4970 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus rules that a bequest of the right of habitation to freedmen to be designated in a codicil is invalid if the testator subsequently fails to designate anyone.

[MODESTINUS libro nono responsorum. ] §33.2.18.prQui plures habebat libertos, testamento suo dixit se habitationem relinquere iis quos codicillis designasset: cum nullos postea designauerit, quaero, an omnes admitti debeant.
[MODESTINUS, Opinions, Book IX.] A certain person who had several freedmen stated in his testament that he was leaving the right of habitation to those whom he should designate in his codicils. Since he subsequently designated no one, I ask whether all of them ought to be admitted.
respondit, si patronus, qui se designaturum personas libertorum pollicitus est, nullum postea designauit, legatum habitationis perfectum esse non uidetur, non existente cui datum intellegi possit.
He replied that if a patron, who promised that he would designate the persons of the freedmen, subsequently designated no one, the legacy of the right of habitation does not seem to be perfected, as there is no one who can be understood to have been given it.

Notes

  1. 33.2.18.prnon existente cui datum intellegi possit — An ablative absolute construction expressing cause. The actual subject of non existente is an omitted antecedent such as eo, which is modified by the relative clause introduced by cui. Thus, it is construed as non existente eo, cui datum [esse] intellegi possit ('since there is no one who can be understood to have been given [it]'). datum is an elliptical form of datum esse (perfect passive infinitive), depending on intellegi possit ('can be understood').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.2.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.2.18.pr

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