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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.8.12.pr

Survival of the Slave and Validity of the Legacy of Peculium

Passage 5101 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that the legacy of a peculium becomes void if the slave dies before the testator, but remains valid and goes to the legatee if the slave survives the testator.

[Iulianus libro trigesimo septimo digestorum. ] §33.8.12.prTunc inutile legatum peculii fit, cum seruus uiuo testatore decedit: ceterum si mortis tempore seruus uixerit, peculium legato cedet:
[JULIAN on the Digest, Book XXXVII] The legacy of a peculium becomes ineffectual only when the slave dies during the lifetime of the testator; but if the slave is alive at the time of the testator's death, the peculium will go to the legatee.

Notes

  1. §33.8.12.pruiuo testatore — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the adjective uiuus (alive) and the noun testator (testator) in the ablative case, meaning "while the testator is alive" or "during the lifetime of the testator".
  2. §33.8.12.prlegato — Dative case serving as the indirect object of the verb cedere (to go to, accrue to). Although it could grammatically refer to the neuter noun legatum (legacy), in this context where the subject is the peculium itself, it is more natural to interpret it as referring to the person legatus (legatee), meaning "will go to the legatee".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.8.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.8.12.pr

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