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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.3.20.pr-34.3.20.1

Lifetime Debt Release and Effect of Waiving Curator Liability

Passage 5220 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus responds regarding whether a legacy of debt release is limited to the lifetime of the debtor, and whether the heirs of a deceased youth can demand an accounting from his curators despite a testamentary waiver.

[IDEM libro decimo responsorum. ] §34.3.20.pr'Aurelio Sempronio fratri meo.
'To Aurelius Sempronius, my brother.
Neminem molestari uolo nomine debiti neque exigere aliquid ab eo, quamdiu uiueret, neque de sorte aut usurae nomine debiti: et absoluo ei et libero ex pignoribus eius domum et possessionem Caperlatam'. Modestinus respondit ipsum debitorem, si conueniatur, exceptione tutum esse: diuersum in persona heredis eius.
I wish that no one be harassed on account of the debt, nor that anything be demanded from him as long as he lives, either regarding the principal or on account of the interest of the debt; and I discharge him and release his house and Caperlata property from his pledges.' Modestinus replied that the debtor himself, if he is sued, is protected by an exception; but it is otherwise in the person of his heir.
§34.3.20.1Gaius Seius cum adoleuisset, accepit curatores Publium Maeuium et Lucium Sempronium.
Gaius Seius, when he had reached puberty, received Publius Maevius and Lucius Sempronius as curators.
sed enim idem Gaius Seius intra legitimam aetatem constitutus cum in fatum concederet, testamento suo de curatoribus suis ita cauit: 'quaestionem curatoribus meis nemo faciat: rem enim ipse tractaui'. quaero, an rationem curae heredes adulti a curatoribus petere possint, cum defunctus, ut ex uerbis testamenti apparet, confessus sit se omnem rem suam administrasse.
But indeed, the same Gaius Seius, while still under the legal age, when he passed away, made the following provision in his will concerning his curators: 'Let no one bring an action against my curators; for I myself managed my affairs.' I ask whether the heirs of the youth can demand an accounting of the curatorship from the curators, since the deceased, as appears from the words of the will, confessed that he himself administered all his property.
Modestinus respondit, si quid dolo curatores fecerunt aut si quae res testatoris penes eos sunt, eo nomine conueniri eos posse.
Modestinus replied that if the curators did anything by fraud, or if any property of the testator is in their possession, they can be sued on that account.

Notes

  1. §34.3.20.prNeminem molestari uolo — This is an accusative with infinitive construction governed by uolo, where neminem is the subject accusative of the passive infinitive molestari.
  2. §34.3.20.prquamdiu uiueret — Imperfect subjunctive, used because it is a subordinate clause within indirect speech (the testamentary disposition), or to express the subjective condition of the beneficiary's lifetime from the testator's perspective.
  3. §34.3.20.prdiuersum in persona heredis eius — Ellipsis of esse. The phrase forms an accusative with infinitive clause diuersum [esse] acting as the object of respondit, indicating that the release from debt does not benefit the heir.
  4. §34.3.20.1heredes adulti — adulti is the genitive singular of the substantive adultus (referring to the deceased Gaius Seius, who had reached puberty), meaning 'the heirs of the youth'. It does not modify heredes as a nominative plural adjective.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.3.20.pr-34.3.20.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.3.20.pr-34.3.20.1

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