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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.1.59.pr-35.1.59.1

Effects of Legatee's Death or Loss of Citizenship on Legacy

Passage 5390 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the effect on a conditional legacy when the legatee dies, contrasted with cases where they lose citizenship through island deportation or face reduction to slavery.

[ULPIANUS libro tertio decimo ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §35.1.59.prInter cidit legatum, si ea persona decesserit, cui legatum est sub condicione.
[ULPIANUS in the thirteenth book on the Lex Iulia et Papia.] A legacy fails if the person to whom the legacy was bequeathed under a condition should die.
§35.1.59.1Quid ergo, si non decesserit, sed in ciuitate esse desierit? puta alicui legatum 'si consul fuerit' et is in insulam deportatus est: numquid non interim exstinguitur legatum, quia restitui in ciuitate potest? quod probabilius esse arbitror.
What then, if he should not have died, but should have ceased to be a citizen? For example, suppose a legacy is bequeathed to someone "if he should be consul," and he is deported to an island: is it not the case that the legacy is not extinguished in the meantime, because he can be restored to citizenship? I think this is more probable.
non idem erit dicendum, si ca poena in eum statuta fuerit, quae irrogat seruitutem, quia seruitus morti adsimulatur.
The same must not be said if a punishment has been imposed on him which inflicts slavery, because slavery is likened to death.

Notes

  1. §35.1.59.1numquid non interim exstinguitur — The combination 'numquid non' introduces a question expecting an affirmative answer ('is it not the case that...?'). Here, it negates 'interim exstinguitur' (is extinguished in the meantime), meaning 'is the legacy not extinguished in the meantime? (i.e., it is not extinguished)'. It indicates that because a deported person retains the possibility of being restored (restituere) to citizenship and thus fulfilling the condition, the legacy remains provisionally valid.
  2. §35.1.59.1quod probabilius — The relative pronoun 'quod' is used at the beginning of the sentence to refer back to the entire previous statement (the opinion that the legacy is not extinguished because of the possibility of restoration to citizenship).
  3. §35.1.59.1non idem erit dicendum — The word 'dicendum' is the neuter singular nominative of the gerundive, which together with 'erit' forms a future passive periphrastic conjugation expressing necessity ('the same must/will have to be said'). It states that the previous rule (non-extinction) does not apply in the case of a punishment inflicting slavery, where no such restoration is possible.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.1.59.pr-35.1.59.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.1.59.pr-35.1.59.1

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