[IULIANUS libro trigesimo primo digestorum. ] §35.1.21.prMultum interest, condicio facti an iuris esset: nam huiusmodi condiciones 'si nauis ex Asia uenerit' 'si Titius consul factus erit', quamuis impletae essent, impedient heredem circa adeundam hereditatem, quamdiu ignoraret eas impletas esse: quae uero ex iure uenient, in his nihil amplius exigendum, quam ut impletae sint.
[Julian in the thirty-first book of his Digests.] It makes a great difference whether a condition is one of fact or of law: for conditions of this kind, such as "if a ship shall have come from Asia," or "if Titius shall have been made consul," even though they have been fulfilled, will impede the heir regarding the acceptance of the inheritance as long as he is ignorant that they have been fulfilled; but in those which come from the law, nothing more is to be required than that they have been fulfilled.
ueluti si quis se filium familias existimat, cum sit pater familias, poterit adquirere hereditatem: quare et ex parte heres scriptus, qui ignorat, an tabulae testamenti apertae sint, adire hereditatem poterit.
For example, if someone thinks himself to be a son-in-power, whereas he is a father-of-the-family, he will be able to acquire the inheritance; wherefore even an heir appointed for a part, who is ignorant of whether the tablets of the testament have been opened, will be able to accept the inheritance.