[IDEM libro quarto epistularum. ]
[THE SAME, in the fourth book of Letters.] A tract of land belonging to another was bequeathed to you.
§35.2.61.prAlienus fundus tibi legatus est: hunc heres cum emere nisi infinito pretio non posset, emit multo pluris, quam quanti erat, qua emptione effectum est, ut legatarii ad legem Falcidiam reuocarentur.
Since the heir could not purchase it except at an exorbitant price, he bought it for much more than it was worth; and by this purchase it was brought about that the legatees were reduced to the Lex Falcidia.
quaero, cum, si fundus tanti, quanti re uera, emptus esset, legata non fuerant excessura ius legis Falcidiae, an hoc ipso heres institutus partem reuocandi a legatariis ius habeat, quod ex uoluntate defuncti pluris emerit fundum, quam quanti erat.
I ask whether, since the legacies would not have exceeded the limit of the Lex Falcidia if the land had been bought for as much as it was actually worth, the instituted heir has, by this very fact, the right to revoke a portion from the legatees, on the ground that, in accordance with the will of the deceased, he bought the land for more than it was worth.
respondit: quod amplius heres quam pretium fundi legatario soluit, id lege Falcidia imputari non potest, quia neglegentia eius nocere legatariis non debet, utpote cum is confitendo ueram aestimationem praestare poterat.
He answered: that which the heir paid in excess of the price of the land to the legatee cannot be imputed under the Lex Falcidia, because his negligence ought not to prejudice the legatees, seeing that he could have made good the true valuation by declaring his inability to purchase.