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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.1.23.pr

Indivisibility of Conditions of Payment to Two Heirs

Passage 5354 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In a legacy conditioned upon paying a sum to two heirs and keeping a tract of land, the legatee cannot split the condition by paying only one heir; the entire condition must be fulfilled to claim any part of the land.

[IDEM libro quadragesimo tertio digestorum. ] §35.1.23.prQui duobus heredibus decem dare iussus est et fundum sibi habere, uerius est, ut condicionem scindere non possit, ne etiam legatum scindatur.
[By the same writer in the forty-third book of his Digests.] When a person has been ordered to give ten to two heirs and to keep a tract of land for himself, it is more correct to hold that he cannot divide the condition, lest the legacy also be divided.
igitur quamuis alteri quinque dederit, nullam partem fundi uindicabit, nisi alteri quoque adeunti hereditatem reliqua quinque numerauerit aut illo omittente hereditatem ei, qui solus adierit hereditatem, tota decem dederit.
Therefore, although he may have given five to one of them, he will claim no part of the land unless he also pays the remaining five to the other who accepts the inheritance, or, if that other declines the inheritance, he gives the whole ten to the one who alone has accepted the inheritance.

Notes

  1. 35.1.23.pruerius est, ut — The ut-clause (with the present subjunctive possit) functions as the subject clause (or explanatory clause) of the impersonal expression uerius est (it is more correct). While an accusative with infinitive construction is more common, the ut-clause is used here to express the substance of the holding.
  2. 35.1.23.prillo omittente hereditatem — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the demonstrative pronoun illo (referring back to alteri, "the other heir") and the present participle omittente, expressing the condition "if that other declines the inheritance."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.1.23.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.1.23.pr

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