[AFRICANUS libro quinto quaestionum. ] §35.2.88.prQui quadringenta habebat, trecenta legauit: deinde fundum tibi dignum centum aureis sub hac condicione legauit, si legi Falcidiae in testamento suo locus non esset: quaeritur, quid iuris est.
[Africanus, from the fifth book of questions.] A person who had four hundred bequeathed three hundred: then he bequeathed to you a tract of land worth a hundred aurei under this condition, if there should be no place for the Falcidian law in his testament: it is asked what the law is.
dixi τῶν ἀπόρων hanc quaestionem esse, qui tractatus apud dialecticos τοῦ ψεγλομέΝΟΥ dicitur.
I said that this question belongs to the class of insoluble problems, a discussion which among dialecticians is called "the Liar".
etenim quidquid constituerimus uerum esse, falsum repperietur.
For indeed, whatever we decide to be true will be found to be false.
namque si legatum tibi datum ualere dicamus, legi Falcidiae locus erit ideoque deficiente condicione non debebitur.
For if we say that the legacy given to you is valid, there will be place for the Falcidian law, and therefore, the condition failing, it will not be owed.
rursus si, quia condicio deficiat, legatum ualiturum non sit, legi Falcidiae locus non erit: porro si legi locus non sit, exsistente condicione legatum tibi debebitur.
Conversely, if, because the condition fails, the legacy is not to be valid, there will be no place for the Falcidian law: furthermore, if there is no place for the law, the condition being fulfilled, the legacy will be owed to you.
cum autem uoluntatem testatoris eam fuisse appareat, ut propter tuum legatum ceterorum legata minui nollet, magis est, ut statuere debeamus tui legati condicionem defecisse.
Since, however, it appears that the intention of the testator was that he did not want the legacies of the others to be diminished because of your legacy, it is more fitting that we should determine that the condition of your legacy has failed.
§35.2.88.1Quid ergo dicemus, si ducenta legauit et tibi similiter sub eadem condicione ducenta legata esse proponantur? nam aut exstitisse aut defecisse legati tui condicionem, ut aut totum aut nihil tibi debeatur, et iniquum et contra uoluntatem testatoris existimabitur: rursus partem deberi rationi non congruit, quando necesse est totius legati condicionem uel exstitisse uel defecisse.
What then shall we say, if he bequeathed two hundred, and it is proposed that likewise under the same condition two hundred are bequeathed to you? For either that the condition of your legacy was fulfilled or that it failed, so that either the whole or nothing is owed to you, will be deemed both inequitable and contrary to the intention of the testator: conversely, that a part is owed does not agree with reason, since it is necessary that the condition of the whole legacy has either been fulfilled or failed.
ergo per exceptionem doli mali tota ea res temperanda erit.
Therefore, through the plea of fraud, this whole matter must be tempered.
§35.2.88.2Quare cum quis tale quid consequi uelit, sic consequetur: 'si quo amplius legaui uel legauero, quam per legem Falcidiam licebit, tum quantum ad supplendum quadrantem deduci oportet, ex eo legato quod Titio dedi heres meus damnas esto dare'. §35.2.88.3Qui ducenta in bonis relinquebat, legauit mihi centum praesenti die, tibi aeque centum sub condicione: post aliquantum temporis exstitit condicio, ita tamen, ut ex reditu eius summae, quae tibi relicta est, non amplius quam uiginti quinque reciperet.
Therefore, when anyone wishes to achieve such an effect, he will achieve it thus: 'If I have bequeathed or shall bequeath anything more than what is permitted by the Falcidian law, then my heir shall be bound to give, from that legacy which I gave to Titius, as much as must be deducted to make up the fourth part.' A person who left two hundred among his assets bequeathed to me a hundred immediately, and to you likewise a hundred under a condition: after some time the condition was fulfilled, yet in such a way that from the income of that sum which was left to you, the heir received no more than twenty-five.
legis Falcidiae ratio ita habenda erit heredi, ut uiginti quinque conferre ei debeamus et amplius fructus quinquaginta medii temporis, qui uerbi gratia efficient quinque.
The calculation of the Falcidian law must be made for the heir in such a way that we must contribute to him twenty-five, and in addition the fruits of fifty during the intermediate time, which, for example, will amount to five.
cum igitur triginta sint conferenda, quidam putant quina dena ab utroque nostrum conferenda esse, quod minime uerum est: licet enim eandem quantitatem acceperimus, manifestum tamen est aliquanto uberius esse meum legatum.
When, therefore, thirty must be contributed, some think that fifteen must be contributed by each of us, which is by no means true: for although we have received the same amount, it is nevertheless manifest that my legacy is somewhat more fruitful.
quare statuendum erit tanto minus in tuo legato esse, quantum ex fructibus eius heres perceperit.
Therefore, it must be determined that there is so much less in your legacy as the heir has received from its fruits.
secundum quod in proposita specie computationem ita iniri oportet, ut ex septem partibus ego quattuor, tu tres conferamus, quoniam quidem quarta pars amplius in meo, quam in tuo legato est.
According to which, in the proposed case, the computation must be entered into in such a way that, out of seven parts, I contribute four and you three, since indeed there is a fourth part more in my legacy than in yours.