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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.2.49.pr-35.2.49.1

Falcidian Law on Bequests of Slaves, Land, and Servitudes

Passage 5494 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the application of the Falcidian law to a bequest of a slave and land to that slave, and illustrates how a subsequent bequest of an indivisible servitude (right of way) can be extinguished if a portion of the land remains in the inheritance.

[IDEM libro duodecimo ad Plautium. ] §35.2.49.prPLAUTIUS. Seruo, quem tibi legaueram, fundum legaui. Atilicinus Nerua Sabinus primum in seruo rationem legis Falcidiae habendam et quota pars ex eo decederet, eam partem in fundo legato inutilem futuram, deinde ex reliquis partibus fundi legis Falcidiae portionem decessuram, sicut ex omnibus legatis.
[THE SAME in the twelfth book on Plautius.] Plautius: "To a slave, whom I had bequeathed to you, I bequeathed a tract of land." Atilicinus, Nerva, and Sabinus [thought] first that account must be taken of the Falcidian law in the case of the slave, and that whatever part should be lost from him, that part would become ineffectual in the bequeathed land; and then, from the remaining parts of the land, the portion of the Falcidian law would be lost, just as from all legacies.
Cassius, quod seruo pars lege Falcidia decedat, incipere seruum fieri communem heredis et legatarii, communi autem seruo cum legatum sit, totum pertinere ad socium, quia in so eam personam legatum consistere possit: qua ratione semel ex fundo partem legis Falcidiae decessuram.
Cassius [thought] that because a part is lost from the slave under the Falcidian law, the slave begins to become common to the heir and the legatee, and when a legacy is given to a common slave, the whole belongs to the partner, because the legacy can stand in that person; by which reasoning, the portion of the Falcidian law would be lost from the land only once.
PAULUS. Cassii sententia utimur: nam et diuus Pius rescribsit seruo communi fideicommissum datum totum ad socium pertinere.
Paulus: We follow the opinion of Cassius; for the deified Pius also wrote in a rescript that a fideicommissum given to a common slave belongs entirely to the partner.
§35.2.49.1Interdum euenit, ut propter rationem legis Falcidiae sequens legatum exstinguatur, ueluti si fundus et ad eum uia legata sit per alium fundum: nam si pars fundi remanserit in hereditate, non potest procedere uiae legatum, quia per partem seruitus adquiri non potest.
It sometimes happens that, because of the calculation of the Falcidian law, a subsequent legacy is extinguished, as, for instance, if a tract of land and a right of way to it through another tract of land have been bequeathed; for if a part of the land remains in the inheritance, the legacy of the right of way cannot take effect, because a servitude cannot be acquired over a part.

Notes

  1. §35.2.49.prAtilicinus Nerua Sabinus primum — The main verb of thinking or deciding (such as *putaverunt* or *senserunt*) is omitted, with the names Atilicinus, Nerva, and Sabinus functioning as the subject for the subsequent accusative with infinitive constructions (habendam, futuram, decessuram).
  2. §35.2.49.prin so eam personam — A problematic reading in the manuscripts. It is generally understood as a corruption of *in sola ea persona* ('only in that person') or *in eo eam personam* ('in him, that person [of the legatee]'). In either interpretation, it means that the legacy can validly stand in the person of the co-owner who is not restricted by the Falcidian law.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.2.49.pr-35.2.49.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.2.49.pr-35.2.49.1

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