Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.1.45.pr

Debt release and deemed fulfillment of condition

Passage 5376 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Iulianus states that if a legatee releases the heir from a debt, this does not formally count as fulfilling the condition of giving, but since the failure to comply is due to the heir, the legatee can claim the legacy as if the condition were met.

[IDEM libro sexto decimo ad Plautium. ] §35.1.45.prIulianus ait, si heredi legatarius, cui sub condicione legatum erat 'si heredi decem dederit' id, quod ei deberet heres, accepto tulisset, non quidem uideri condicioni paruisse, quasi dederit: sed quasi per heredem stet, quc minus pareat, posse petere legatum, quasi exstiterit condicio.
[The same in the sixteenth book on Plautius.] Iulianus says that if a legatee, to whom a legacy had been left under the condition "if he gives ten to the heir," should release the heir by acceptilation from what the heir owed him, he indeed does not seem to have complied with the condition as if he had given it; but because it is, as it were, due to the heir that he does not comply with it, he can claim the legacy just as if the condition had been fulfilled.

Notes

  1. §35.1.45.praccepto tulisset — Subjunctive pluperfect of the legal expression accepto ferre, meaning to release from a debt by verbal agreement (acceptilation). It refers here to the legatee releasing the heir's debt.
  2. §35.1.45.prper heredem stet, quc minus pareat — Uses the impersonal construction per aliquem stat quo minus (it is due to someone that... not / someone prevents...). The manuscript reading quc is a scribal error for quo. The clause means 'as if it is due to the heir that he does not comply [with the condition]'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.1.45.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.1.45.pr

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