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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.2.30.pr

Expansion of Legacies by the Conjunction Or

Passage 5190 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus discusses the interpretation of the conjunction 'or' (seu) in testaments, explaining with examples that it is used to expand and comprehensively include objects rather than to restrict the bequest.

[PAULUS libro singulari de adsignatione libertorum. ] §34.2.30.prSi quis ita legauerit: 'uxori meae mundum ornamenta seu quae eius causa paraui, do lego', placet omnia deberi, sicuti cum ita legatur: 'Titio uina, quae in urbe habeo seu in portu, do lego', omnia deberi: hoc enim uerbum 'seu' ampliandi legati gratia positum est.
[PAULUS, in his single book on the Assignment of Freedmen.] If anyone should bequeath as follows: 'To my wife, the toilet articles, ornaments, or whatever I have provided for her sake, I give and bequeath,' it is held that all are due, just as when it is bequeathed as follows: 'To Titius, the wines which I have in the city or in the port, I give and bequeath,' all are due; for this word 'or' is employed for the sake of amplifying the bequest.

Notes

  1. §34.2.30.prmundum — Accusative singular of the noun mundus, -i m. (here referring to a woman's toilet articles or personal effects, mundus muliebris), serving as a direct object of do lego along with the subsequent ornamenta (neuter accusative plural).
  2. §34.2.30.prplacet — Used impersonally to mean 'it is agreed' or 'it is held' among jurists, taking the following accusative and infinitive clause omnia deberi as its subject.
  3. §34.2.30.prseu — The conjunction seu (or sive) usually expresses an alternative ('or'), but here, as explained by ampliandi legati gratia ('for the sake of amplifying the bequest'), it functions not to limit the bequest by choice, but to comprehensively include and merge all items falling under either category (akin to 'and').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.2.30.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.2.30.pr

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