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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.1.12.pr

Shortfalls from Secured Land and Duty to Pay Legacies

Passage 5148 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

When a testator left annual allowances to his freedmen and later secured them with specific estates, a question arose regarding the heirs' duty to supplement shortfalls in income, to which Paulus replies that the legacy is owed in full and the establishment of security does not alter its amount.

[IDEM libro quarto decimo responsorum. ] §34.1.12.prLucius Titius libertis suis cibaria et uestiaria annua certorum nummorum reliquit et posteriore parte testamenti ita cauit: 'obligatos eis ob causam fideicommissi fundos meos illum et illum, ut ex reditu eorum alimenta supra scripta percipiant'. quaesitum est, an, si quando minores reditus peruenerint, quam est quantitas cibariorum et uestiariorum, heredes ad supplendam eam onerari non debeant, uel, si alio anno excesserint, au supplendum sit, quod superiore anno minus perceperint.
[THE SAME, in the fourteenth book of Opinions.] Lucius Titius left to his freedmen annual allowances for food and clothing of a certain sum of money, and in a later part of his will he provided as follows: "My estates, this one and that one, shall be bound to them by reason of the trust, so that they may receive the above-written maintenance from their income." The question arose whether, if ever the income should prove to be less than the amount of the allowances for food and clothing, the heirs ought not to be burdened to make it up; or, if in another year the income should exceed that amount, whether that which they received in lesser amount in the preceding year should be made up.
Paulus respondit cibaria et nestiaria libertis defuncti integra deberi, neque ex eo, quod postea praedia his pignoris iure testator obligare uoluit, ut ex reditu eorum alimenta perciperent, minuisse eum uel auxisse ea quae reliquerat uideri.
Paulus replied that the allowances for food and clothing are owed in full to the freedmen of the deceased, and that from the fact that the testator subsequently wished to bind the estates to them by right of pledge, so that they might receive the maintenance from their income, he does not appear to have diminished or increased what he had left.

Notes

  1. §34.1.12.probligatos — In the quoted testamentary clause `'obligatos... fundos... ut... percipiant'`, this acts as a predicate adjective for the subject accusative `fundos` with an ellipsis of `esse` (`obligatos esse`), forming an accusative and infinitive construction to express the testator's directive.
  2. §34.1.12.prnestiaria — This is a scribal or editorial error for `uestiaria` (allowances for clothing) mentioned in the first sentence. In this context, it clearly refers to the same legacy of "food and clothing" (`cibaria et uestiaria`).
  3. §34.1.12.pruideri — A passive infinitive acting as the main verb of the indirect speech governed by `Paulus respondit`. Its subject accusative is `eum` (referring to the testator). The structure `neque ex eo... minuisse eum... uideri` means "and from the fact that [the testator wished to bind the estates], he does not appear to have diminished or increased..."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.1.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.1.12.pr

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