Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.2.21.pr-35.2.21.1

Discharge of Natural Debt and Portions of Master and Slave

Passage 5466 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the relationship between the discharge of a natural obligation and the application of the Falcidian law when a pupil receives a legacy under certain conditions, as well as the calculation of the Falcidian portion when a slave and master are appointed heirs or receive legacies.

[PAULUS libro duodecimo quaestionum. ] §35.2.21.prSi pupillus, cui sine tutore auctore decem mutua data sunt, legatum a creditore meruerit sub hac condicione, si decem quae acceperit heredi reddiderit, una numeratione et implet condicionem et liberatur naturali obligatione, ut etiam in Falcidia heredi imputentur, quamuis non imputarentur, si tantum condicionis implendae causa data fuissent.
[PAULUS, from his twelfth book of Questions.] If a pupil, to whom ten has been given as a loan without the authority of his tutor, should obtain a legacy from the creditor under this condition, "if he returns to the heir the ten which he received," by a single payment he both fulfills the condition and is released from the natural obligation, so that they are also computed to the heir under the Falcidian law, although they would not be computed if they had been given solely for the sake of fulfilling the condition.
adeo autem et soluere uidetur, ut repudiato legato uel Sticho qui legatus est mortuo nibil repetere possit.
Moreover, he is deemed to have paid to such an extent that, even if the legacy is repudiated or the slave Stichus who was bequeathed dies, he can recover nothing.
§35.2.21.1Si ego et seruus meus heredes instituti simus ex diuersis partibus nec a seruo erogatus dodrans, his quibus a me legatum est contra Falcidiam proderit quod ex portione serui ad me peruenit supra Falcidiam eius portionis.
If I and my slave are appointed heirs for different shares, and three-fourths is not paid out from the slave's share, it will benefit those to whom a legacy was bequeathed by me against the Falcidian law that what came to me from the share of the slave exceeds the Falcidian portion of that share.
ex contrario si seruo meo seruus et mihi decem legata fuerint, serui Falcidia ex decem mihi legatis non tenetur exemplo eodem Falcidiae: nam quartam retineo ex persona serui, quamuis de mea portione nihil exhaustum sit.
Conversely, if a slave is bequeathed to my slave and ten to me, the Falcidian law of the slave's legacy is not held liable from the ten bequeathed to me, by the same example of the Falcidian law: for I retain a fourth on account of the person of the slave, although nothing has been exhausted from my own share.

Notes

  1. §35.2.21.prdecem quae acceperit — decem (ten) is treated as a neuter plural, acting as the antecedent of the neuter plural accusative relative pronoun quae. It refers back to decem mutua (ten given as a loan) in the preceding clause.
  2. §35.2.21.prut etiam in Falcidia heredi imputentur — The subject of imputentur (third-person plural present subjunctive passive) is decem. In the context of the Falcidian law, it means that this sum is computed (imputari) to the heir as a debt recovery rather than as a legacy, thus affecting the calculation of the inheritance's net value.
  3. §35.2.21.prrepudiato legato uel Sticho qui legatus est mortuo — Both repudiato legato and Sticho... mortuo are ablative absolute constructions connected by uel. The latter contains the relative clause qui legatus est. They represent two scenarios where the legacy fails after the payment has already been validly made.
  4. §35.2.21.1proderit quod ex portione serui ad me peruenit — The subject of proderit (third-person singular future) is the noun clause introduced by quod. The phrase his quibus a me legatum est (those to whom a legacy was bequeathed by me) serves as the dative object of proderit.
  5. §35.2.21.1serui Falcidia — serui is a genitive modifying Falcidia ("the Falcidian calculation regarding the slave"). It refers to the deduction or retention under the Falcidian law applied to the slave's share or to the legacy left to the slave.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.2.21.pr-35.2.21.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.2.21.pr-35.2.21.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.