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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.1.51.pr-35.1.51.1

Freedom and Legacies with Disjunctive Conditions and Payment Recipient

Passage 5382 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus discusses the distinction between acquiring freedom and receiving a legacy under disjunctive conditions, and whether payment to the heir of an heir satisfies the condition for manumission.

[MODESTINUS libro quinto differentiarum. ] §35.1.51.prSub diuersis condicionibus disiunctim positis liber esse iussus eam condicionem eligere potest, quae sibi leuior esse uidebitur: legato uero eo modo relicto legatarium nouissimae condicioni parere oportet.
[MODESTINUS in the fifth book of Differences.] A person who is ordered to be free under different conditions placed disjunctively can choose that condition which seems to him to be lighter; but when a legacy is left in that manner, the legatee must comply with the last condition.
§35.1.51.1Heredi decem dare iussus et liber esse et heredis heredi dando perueniet ad libertatem: quod non similiter in legatarii persona custodiri Publicius scribit.
One who is ordered to give ten to the heir and to be free will attain freedom also by giving it to the heir of the heir; Publicius writes that this is not similarly observed in the case of a legatee.

Notes

  1. 35.1.51.prliber esse iussus — The participle serving as the subject of the main verb `potest`. `iussus` is the perfect passive participle of *iubeo*, which here takes the nominative complement with the infinitive (`liber esse`) instead of an accusative with infinitive, due to the passive construction.
  2. 35.1.51.1et heredis heredi dando — `dando` is the ablative of the gerund of *do*, expressing means ("by giving"). `et` functions adverbially as "also/even", modifying the dative phrase `heredis heredi` ("to the heir of the heir").
  3. 35.1.51.1quod non similiter in legatarii persona custodiri Publicius scribit — `quod` is a relative pronoun in the neuter accusative singular, referring back to the entire preceding clause. It acts as the subject-accusative of the passive infinitive `custodiri` in the indirect statement introduced by `scribit`.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.1.51.pr-35.1.51.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.1.51.pr-35.1.51.1

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