Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.4.24.pr-34.4.24.1

Transfer of Conditional Legacy and Diminution by Gift

Passage 5256 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that in the transfer of a conditional legacy, a condition specific to the first beneficiary is not carried over, and that if slaves of a garden bequeathed to a daughter are subsequently gifted to the wife, the legacy is deemed diminished even if the gift itself is invalid.

[IDEM libro octauo responsorum. ] §34.4.24.prLegatum sub condicione datum cum transfertur, sub eadem condicione transferri uidetur, si non condicio priori personae cohaereat: nam si quis uxori sublatis liberis legauerit, repetita condicio non uidebitur, quae fuit in persona mulieris necessaria.
[THE SAME in the eighth book of Responses.] When a legacy given under a condition is transferred, it is deemed to be transferred under the same condition, unless the condition is closely attached to the first person; for if anyone leaves a legacy to his wife on the condition of children being raised, the condition which was necessary in the person of the woman will not be deemed to be repeated.
§34.4.24.1Pater hortos instructos filiae legauit: postea quaedam ex mancipiis hortorum uxori donauit.
A father bequeathed equipped gardens to his daughter; afterwards he donated some of the slaves of the gardens to his wife.
siue donationes confirmauit siue non confirmauit, posterior uoluntas filiae legato potior erit: sed etsi non ualeat donatio, tamen minuisse filiae legatum pater intellegitur.
Whether he confirmed the donations or did not confirm them, his subsequent will shall prevail over the legacy to the daughter; but even if the donation is not valid, the father is nevertheless understood to have diminished the legacy of the daughter.

Notes

  1. §34.4.24.prsublatis liberis — An ablative absolute construction based on the verb tollere. While it can be interpreted as either 'raising/acknowledging children' or 'having lost children', it is commonly understood here as 'children being raised/reared', referring to a caretaking duty or condition inherent to the wife ('necessary in the person of the woman').
  2. §34.4.24.1pater intellegitur — Instead of an impersonal passive construction with an accusative and infinitive, the verb intellegitur forms a personal passive construction with pater as its subject and minuisse as a complementary infinitive ('the father is understood to have diminished'), meaning 'it is understood that the father diminished'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.4.24.pr-34.4.24.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.4.24.pr-34.4.24.1

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.