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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.4.20.pr

Transfer of Legacy to Incapable Person and Extinction

Passage 5252 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius discusses the case where a legacy is transferred to an incapable recipient (someone lacking testamenti factio or a slave without freedom), stating that the legacy is not owed to either the new or the original legatee.

[POMPONIUS libro primo ad Quintum Mucium. ] §34.4.20.prLicet transferam legatum in eum, cum quo nobis testamenti factio non est, siue in seruum proprium, cui sine libertate legauero, licet eis non debeatur, nec illi tamen debebitur, cui fuerit ademptum.
[POMPONIUS in the first book on Quintus Mucius.] Even if I transfer a legacy to a person with whom we do not have the capacity to make a will, or to my own slave to whom I bequeath without granting freedom, although it is not owed to them, nevertheless it will not be owed to him from whom it has been taken away.

Notes

  1. §34.4.20.prnobis — Dative meaning "to us", which either refers to the testator himself or to Roman citizens in general. Since the capacity to make a will (testamenti factio) is a legal relationship between Roman citizens, the plural "us" is used in a general, objective sense.
  2. §34.4.20.prlicet eis non debeatur — An inserted concessive clause. `eis` is a plural pronoun referring to both "the person without the capacity to make a will" and "the slave to whom freedom was not granted". The concessive conjunction `licet` governs the subjunctive mood (`debeatur`).
  3. §34.4.20.prcui fuerit ademptum — The dative `cui` (relative pronoun) is a "dative of separation" (or deprivation) used with the verb `ademptum` (perfect passive participle of `adimere`, "to take away, revoke"), indicating the person from whom the legacy was taken. The implied subject is `legatum` (the legacy).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.4.20.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.4.20.pr

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