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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.1.56.pr

Divisibility of Conditions for Sole and Joint Legatees

Passage 5387 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that if a bequest is made to a single person under a condition, the condition cannot be split even by accidental circumstances such as multiple heirs succeeding him, whereas if it is originally bequeathed to multiple persons, the condition is treated as divided among them.

[IDEM libro quarto decimo epistularum. ] §35.1.56.prCui fundus legatus est, si decem dederit, partem fundi consequi non potest, nisi totam pecuniam numerasset.
[THE SAME in the fourteenth book of Epistles.] He to whom a tract of land has been bequeathed, if he should have given ten, cannot obtain a part of the land unless he has paid the entire sum of money.
dissimilis est causa, cum duobus eadem res sub condicione legata est: in hac enim quaestione statim a testamento, quo pluribus condicio adposita est, diuisa quoque in singulas personas uideri potest, et ideo singuli pro sua parte et condicioni parere et legatum capere possunt: nam quamuis summa uniuerse condicionis sit adscripta, enumeratione personarum potest uideri esse diuisa.
The case is different when the same thing has been bequeathed to two persons under a condition: for in this question, straight from the testament by which the condition was imposed on several persons, the condition can also be seen as divided among the individual persons, and therefore individuals can, for their respective parts, both comply with the condition and take the bequest: for although the sum of the condition has been written down as a whole, it can be seen as divided by the enumeration of the persons.
in eo uero, quod uni sub condicione legatum est, scindi ex accidenti condicio non debet, et omnis numerus eorum, qui in locum eius substituuntur, pro singulari persona est habendus.
But in the case where a bequest has been made to one person under a condition, the condition ought not to be split by an accidental circumstance, and the entire number of those who are substituted in his place must be regarded as a single person.

Notes

  1. §35.1.56.prCui fundus legatus est, si decem dederit — The relative pronoun `Cui` implies an omitted antecedent `ei`. The entire clause `Cui... dederit` functions as the substantive subject of the main verb `consequi non potest`, with the conditional clause `si decem dederit` embedded within this structure.
  2. §35.1.56.prex accidenti — Meaning "by accident" or "by an accidental circumstance." Here it refers to an unforeseen objective event occurring after the creation of the testament, such as when a single legatee dies and is succeeded by multiple co-heirs.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.1.56.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.1.56.pr

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