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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.5.2.pr-33.5.2.3

Legatee Choice and Non-Exhaustion by Invalid Selection

Passage 5021 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the legatee's right of choice in bequests and establishes that the option is not exhausted if an invalid choice (such as another person's slave, a free person, or vinegar not classified as wine) is made.

[IDEM libro uicesimo ad Sabinum. ] §33.5.2.prQuotiens serui electio uel optio datur, legatarius optabit quem uelit: §33.5.2.1Sed et homine generaliter legato arbitrium eligendi quem acciperet ad legatarium pertinet.
[THE SAME, on Sabinus, Book XX] Whenever the choice or option of a slave is given, the legatee shall choose whomsoever he wishes: But even when a slave is bequeathed in general terms, the decision of choosing whom he is to receive belongs to the legatee.
§33.5.2.2Data igitur optione si quis optauerit alienum seruum uel hominem liberum, uidendum est, an consumpserit optionem: et puto non consumi.
Therefore, if, when the option is given, someone has chosen another person's slave or a free man, it must be considered whether he has exhausted his option: and I think that it is not exhausted.
§33.5.2.3Eum, cui centum amphorarum electio data sit, acetum eligentem non consumere optionem, si id acetum elegerit, quod uini numero pater familias non habuit:
[It is also held that] a person to whom the choice of a hundred amphorae has been given, if he chooses vinegar, does not exhaust his option, if he has chosen that vinegar which the head of the household did not hold as wine:

Notes

  1. §33.5.2.1quem acciperet — An indirect question clause with the imperfect subjunctive acciperet, expressing obligation ('whom he should receive') or potentiality from a past perspective.
  2. §33.5.2.2puto non consumi — The subject accusative of the present passive infinitive consumi (which is optionem from the preceding sentence) is omitted.
  3. §33.5.2.3Eum... non consumere optionem — An accusative with infinitive (AcI) clause without a main verb, which either continues under the governance of puto from the preceding section or stands independently to present a juristic opinion.
  4. §33.5.2.3uini numero — The ablative numero is an ablative of respect meaning 'in the number (category) of.' It indicates that the head of the household did not classify or reckon that vinegar under the category of wine.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.5.2.pr-33.5.2.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.5.2.pr-33.5.2.3

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