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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.4.32.pr-34.4.32.1

Modification of Legacies and Revocation of Freedom

Passage 5264 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the difficulties in modifying legacies when corporal things are involved rather than just money, and states that if a slave's freedom is revoked, there is no need to separately revoke the legacies left to them.

[UENULEIUS libro decimo actionum. ] §34.4.32.prDetrahere legatis uel adicere, si nihil praeter pecuniam numeratam legatum sit, promptum est: cum uero res corporales interuenient, et scriptura difficilior fit et obscura portio.
[VENULEIUS in the tenth book on Actions.] To detract from or to add to legacies, if nothing but ready money has been bequeathed, is easy; but when corporal things intervene, both the drafting becomes more difficult and the portion obscure.
§34.4.32.1Cum libertas adimitur, legata seruis relicta nihil attinet adimi.
When freedom is revoked, there is no need for legacies left to the slaves to be revoked.

Notes

  1. §34.4.32.prlegatis — Dative plural of legatum, governed by both verbs detrahere (to detract from) and adicere (to add to), serving as the common object for both actions.
  2. §34.4.32.1nihil attinet adimi — An impersonal construction with nihil attinet ('there is no need') combined with the passive infinitive adimi ('to be revoked'). The subject of the infinitive is the preceding legata seruis relicta. Since the revocation of freedom itself prevents the slave from acquiring the legacy, a separate revocation of the legacy is legally unnecessary.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.4.32.pr-34.4.32.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.4.32.pr-34.4.32.1

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