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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.4.7.pr

Conditional Transfer and Timing of Legacy Revocation

Passage 5239 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text details how a subsequent conditional legacy affects a prior unconditional legacy, stating that the prior legacy is generally revoked only upon the condition's fulfillment, unless the testator clearly intended immediate revocation.

[ULPIANUS libro uicesimo quarto ad Sabinum. ] §34.4.7.prQuod si alii legetur sub condicione, quod alii pure datum est, non plene recessum uidetur a primo, sed ita demum, si condicio sequentis exstiterit: ceterum si hoc animo fuerit testator, ut omnimodo recessum a primo putauerit, dicendum erit a primo ademptum legatum.
[ULPIANUS in the twenty-fourth book on Sabinus.] But if what was given unconditionally to one person should be bequeathed to another under a condition, it is not deemed to have been fully departed from the first legacy, but only if the condition of the second legacy should be fulfilled. Otherwise, however, if the testator was of such a mind that he considered the first legacy to be departed from in any event, it must be said that the legacy has been revoked from the first.

Notes

  1. §34.4.7.pralii legetur... quod alii... datum est — Meaning 'bequeathed to another... what had been given to another', where the two instances of `alii` refer to different legatees. The latter `alii` refers to the original legatee of the unconditional bequest, while the former refers to the new legatee of the conditional bequest.
  2. §34.4.7.prrecessum uidetur — An impersonal passive construction using the neuter singular perfect passive participle `recessum` (with `esse` omitted) of the intransitive verb `recedere` (to withdraw, depart), combined with `uidetur` (it seems, is deemed). It translates to 'it is deemed to have been departed from (the first legacy)'.
  3. §34.4.7.prhoc animo fuerit — The ablative of quality/description `hoc animo` acts as the complement of the copula verb `fuerit` (perfect subjunctive in a conditional clause), meaning 'if the testator was of this mind/intention'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.4.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.4.7.pr

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