Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.2.37.pr

Scope of Property Included in a Legacy of Universal Usufruct

Passage 4989 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Regarding a bequest of the usufruct of a man's property to his wife until his daughter reaches eighteen, it is asked whether this includes rustic and urban estates, slaves, furniture, and the debt-ledger, and it is answered that all of them are included.

[IDEM libro trigesimo tertio digestorum. ] §33.2.37.pr'Uxori meae usum fructum lego bonorum meorum, usque dum filia mea annos impleat octodecim': quaesitum est, an praediorum tam rusticorum quam urbanorum et mancipiorum et supellectilis itemque calendarii usus fructus ad uxorem pertineat.
[THE SAME, From the Thirty-Third Book of his Digests.] 'I bequeath to my wife the usufruct of my property until my daughter reaches eighteen years of age.' It was asked whether the usufruct of both rustic and urban estates, slaves, household goods, and likewise of the debt-ledger belongs to the wife.
respondit secundum ea quae proponerentur omnium pertinere.
He answered that, according to the facts proposed, it belongs to all of them.

Notes

  1. §33.2.37.prcalendarii — While calendarium originally meant a calendar, in Roman financial practice it referred to a debt-ledger or book of accounts listing interest-bearing loans, since interest was typically due on the Kalends (the first of the month). The legal issue here is whether the usufruct of 'property' (bona) encompasses the right to receive interest generated from such outstanding loans.
  2. §33.2.37.promnium pertinere — This is an accusative-with-infinitive construction (accusativus cum infinitivo) where the subject accusative, 'usum fructum', is omitted from context as the subject of pertinere. 'omnium' is a genitive plural ('of all things'), meaning that the usufruct of all the mentioned assets belongs to the wife.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.2.37.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.2.37.pr

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