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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.6.7.pr-33.6.7.1

Foodstuff Bequest Without Quantity and Impossible Weight

Passage 5048 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In §33.6.7.pr, jurists debate whether a bequest of foodstuffs without specified quantities covers only what the heir wishes to give or the entire quantity left by the deceased. In §33.6.7.1, a bequest of wheat with an impossible weight requirement is declared void because such things do not exist in nature.

[IAUOLENUS libro secundo ex posterioribus Labeonis. ] §33.6.7.prQuidam heredem damnauerat dare uxori suae uinum oleum frumentum acetum mella salsamenta.
[IAUOLENUS from the second book of his Epitomes of Labeo's Posthumous Works.] A certain man had ordered his heir to give his wife wine, oil, wheat, vinegar, honey, and salted provisions.
Trebatius aiebat ex singulis rebus non amplius deberi, quam quantum heres mulieri dare uoluisset, quoniam non adiectum esset, quantum ex quaque re daretur.
Trebatius used to say that no more was owed of each of these items than what the heir wished to give to the woman, since it had not been added how much was to be given of each item.
Ofilius Cascellius Tubero omne, quantum pater familias reliquisset, legatum putant: Labeo id probat idque uerum est.
Ofilius, Cascellius, and Tubero think that the entire quantity left by the paterfamilias was bequeathed; Labeo approves of this, and it is correct.
§33.6.7.1'Lucio Titio tritici modios centum, qui singuli pondo centum pendeant, heres dato'. Ofilius nihil legatum esse, quod et Labeo probat, quoniam eiusmodi triticum in rerum natura non esset: quod uerum puto.
"Let the heir give to Lucius Titius one hundred modii of wheat, of which each single modius weighs one hundred pounds." Ofilius thinks that nothing was bequeathed, which Labeo also approves, because wheat of that kind does not exist in the nature of things; and I think this is correct.

Notes

  1. §33.6.7.prex singulis rebus non amplius deberi, quam quantum heres mulieri dare uoluisset — An infinitive clause in indirect speech (oratio obliqua). The subject of the passive infinitive 'deberi' is 'amplius'. The subjunctive 'uoluisset' (pluperfect subjunctive) is due to the indirect speech, representing a future perfect aspect from the past viewpoint of the testator's death, i.e., what the heir would have wished to give.
  2. §33.6.7.1qui singuli pondo centum pendeant — The verb 'pendeant' in the relative clause is in the subjunctive mood, serving either as a subjunctive of characteristic (defining the impossible nature of the wheat) or as a subjunctive due to the quotation of the testamentary clause in indirect speech. 'Pondo' is originally an ablative of specification ('by weight') functioning as an indeclinable noun meaning 'pounds'. 'Singuli' (each single one) agrees with the relative pronoun 'qui' (referring back to 'modios').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.6.7.pr-33.6.7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.6.7.pr-33.6.7.1

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