Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.2.16.pr

Fideicommissum of Preserved Goods after Estate Abstention

Passage 5175 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses a case where a mother appointed her dependent daughter as heir and her husband as substitute heir with a trust to preserve certain items for the daughter. The issue is whether the daughter, after rejecting the inheritance and later abstaining from her deceased father's estate, can still claim the trust.

[IDEM libro octauo decimo digestorum. ] §34.2.16.prFiliam in potestate patris manentem mater scripsit heredem eique patrem Maeuium substituit et ita scripsit: 'quisquis mihi heres erit, fidei eius committo, uti ornamenta mea omnia aurum argentum uestimenta, quibus ego usa sum, ne ueneant et filiae meae reseruentur’: quaesitum est, cum filia recusante pater ex substitutione heres exstitisset et intestato decessisset, filia autem bonis eius abstinuerat, an fideicommissum petere possit.
[THE SAME, in his eighteenth book of the Digests.] A mother appointed her daughter, who was still under the power of her father, as her heir, substituted the father, Maevius, to her, and wrote as follows: "Whoever shall be my heir, I commit to his good faith that all my ornaments, gold, silver, and clothing, which I have used, shall not be sold but shall be reserved for my daughter." The question arose whether, when the daughter refused the inheritance and the father became heir by substitution and then died intestate, the daughter having abstained from his property, she could claim the trust.
respondit secundum ea quae proponerentur uideri patris utiliter fidei commissum.
He replied that, according to the facts proposed, it appeared that the trust had been effectively created against the father.
CLAUDIUS: quoniam uerbo seruandi, quod scriptum est, uideri in id tempus dilatum fideicommissum, quo sui iuris futurus esset is cui dabatur.
CLAUDIUS: Because by the word "to preserve," which was written, the trust appeared to have been deferred to that time when the person to whom it was given should become sui iuris.

Notes

  1. 34.2.16.prfiliam in potestate patris manentem — "The daughter remaining under the power of her father." The present participle manentem modifies filiam, indicating her legal status as a dependent (alieni iuris) under paternal power (patria potestas).
  2. 34.2.16.prfilia recusante — Ablative absolute, indicating the circumstance that the daughter refused the primary inheritance designated in her mother's will.
  3. 34.2.16.prbonis eius abstinuerat — "She had abstained from his property." bonis is in the ablative case. This refers to the legal remedy (beneficium abstinendi) by which a self-governing child (sui iuris) refrains from meddling with the debt-ridden estate of the deceased father to avoid liability.
  4. 34.2.16.pruideri patris utiliter fidei commissum — An accusative with infinitive clause dependent on respondit. fidei commissum is used as an infinitive with esse omitted, and the genitive patris denotes the person bound by the trust. It means that the trust is considered to have been validly (utiliter) imposed upon the father.
  5. 34.2.16.pruerbo seruandi — "By the word of preserving." seruandi is the genitive of the gerund. This refers to the word "reseruentur" (be reserved) in the will, which serves as the basis for Claudius's interpretation that the execution of the trust was deferred until the daughter became sui iuris.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.2.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.2.16.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.