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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.1.17.pr

Maintenance for Temple Slaves Before Completion

Passage 5153 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A testator left slaves to guard a temple and bequeathed maintenance to them. Since the temple was not yet built, a question arose regarding when the legacy should begin, and it was answered that the heir must provide it immediately even during construction.

[IDEM libro nono decimo digestorum. ] §34.1.17.prSeruos ad custodiam templi reliquerat et his ab herede legauerat his uerbis: 'peto fideique tuae committo, ut des praestes in memoriam meam pedisequis meis, quos ad curam templi reliqui, singulis menstrua cibaria et annua uestiaria certa'. quaesitum est, cum templum nondum esset extructum, ex die mortis an uero ex eo tempore, quo templum explicitum fuerit, percipere serui debeant legatum.
[BY THE SAME AUTHOR, in the nineteenth book of the Digests.] A testator had left slaves for the custody of a temple and had bequeathed to them from the heir in these words: "I ask and commit to your good faith, that you give and perform in my memory to my attendants, whom I have left for the care of the temple, to each of them, monthly food and certain yearly clothing." The question was asked, since the temple had not yet been built, whether the slaves ought to receive the legacy from the day of death, or rather from that time when the temple should be completed.
respondit officio iudicis heredem compellendum seruis relicta praestare, donec templum exstrueretur.
He answered that, by the office of the judge, the heir ought to be compelled to perform what was left to the slaves until the temple should be built.

Notes

  1. 34.1.17.prab herede legauerat — The subject of legauerat is the testator, and the dative his (to them, i.e., the slaves) refers to the recipients. The phrase ab herede (from/by the heir) is an ablative expression specifying the person charged with the obligation of the legacy (specifically, a fideicommissum).
  2. 34.1.17.prheredem compellendum — This is an accusative with infinitive construction (indirect speech) depending on respondit, where the gerundive compellendum [esse] (with the auxiliary esse omitted) forms a predicate of obligation ("that the heir ought to be compelled"). The infinitive praestare (to perform/provide) depends on this gerundive.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.1.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.1.17.pr

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