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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.9.12.pr

Deprivation of Heirs Lacking Final Intent and Legacies

Passage 5317 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains the legal principle that heirs who formally succeed because a new will is invalid are deprived of the inheritance as unworthy for lacking the testator's final intent, citing a decision by Emperor Marcus, and addresses the validity of legacies and prelegacies in such cases.

[IDEM libro sexto decimo quaestionum. ] §34.9.12.prCum quidam scripsisset heredes quos instituere non potuerat, quamuis institutio non ualeret neque superius testamentum ruptum esset, heredibus tamen ut indignis, qui non habuerunt supremam uoluntatem, abstulit iam pridem senatus hereditatem.
[THE SAME, in the sixteenth book of Questions.] When a certain person had written down as heirs those whom he could not institute, although the institution was not valid and the prior will was not revoked, yet the senate long ago took away the inheritance from the heirs as being unworthy, because they did not have the final intention of the deceased.
quod diuus Marcus in eius persona iudicauit, cuius nomen peracto testamento testator induxerat: causam enim ad praefectos aerarii misit: uerum ab eo legata relicta salua manserunt.
The divine Marcus decided this in the person of one whose name the testator had erased after the will was completed; for he sent the case to the prefects of the treasury; but the legacies left to be paid by him remained secure.
de praeceptionibus eidem datis uoluntatis erit quaestio: et legatum ei non denegabitur, nisi hoc euidenter testatorem uoluisse appareat.
Concerning the prelegacy given to the same person, there will be a question of intention; and the legacy will not be denied to him, unless it clearly appears that the testator wished this.

Notes

  1. §34.9.12.prheredibus ... abstulit iam pridem senatus hereditatem — The verb abstulit (perfect of auferre) takes the dative of separation heredibus and the direct object accusative hereditatem, meaning 'the senate took away the inheritance from the heirs.'
  2. §34.9.12.prab eo legata relicta — ab eo refers to the person who was deprived of the inheritance as unworthy, and modifies the participle relicta. It means the legacies charged upon him (to be paid by him as the designated heir).
  3. §34.9.12.prnisi hoc euidenter testatorem uoluisse appareat — uoluisse is an infinitive in the accusative-and-infinitive construction, with testatorem as its subject accusative and hoc (the denial or deprivation of the legacy) as its object. This entire clause functions as the subject of the impersonal verb appareat ('unless it clearly appears that...').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.9.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.9.12.pr

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