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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.2.14.pr-36.2.14.3

Alternative Legacies of Usufruct or Money and Legatee Status

Passage 5655 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses the timing of the vesting of legacies involving choices between usufruct and money, and analyzes how the status of the legatee—such as coming under another's power or being a son in power (filius familias)—affects the acquisition and transmission of the legacy.

[ULPIANUS libro uicesimo quarto ad Sabinum. ] §36.2.14.prSi usus fructus aut decem, utrum legatarius uoluerit, sint legata, utrumque spectandum et mortem testatoris et aditionem hereditatis, mortem propter decem, aditionem propter usum fructum: quamuis enim electio sit legatarii, tamen nondum electioni locus esse potest, cum proponatur aut nondum testatorem decessisse aut eo mortuo hereditas nondum adita.
[ULPIANUS in the twenty-fourth book on Sabinus.] If either a usufruct or ten (pieces of money), whichever the legatee prefers, is bequeathed, both the death of the testator and the acceptance of the inheritance must be looked at: the death for the ten, the acceptance for the usufruct. For although the choice belongs to the legatee, yet there can be no room for choice as long as it is assumed that either the testator has not yet died, or, if he is dead, the inheritance has not yet been accepted.
§36.2.14.1Inde quaerit Iulianus, si post mortem testatoris legatarius decedat, an ad heredem transferat decem legatum, et libro trigensimo septimo digestorum scribit posse dici decem transtulisse, quia mortuo legatario dies legati cedit.
Hence Julian asks whether, if the legatee dies after the death of the testator, he transmits the legacy of ten to his heir, and writes in the thirty-seventh book of his Digests that it can be said that he has transmitted the ten, because upon the death of the legatee the right to the legacy becomes vested (dies cedit).
argumentum Iulianus pro sententia sua adfert tale: 'Seiae decem aut, si pepererit, fundum heres meus dato': nam si, antequam pariat, inquit, decesserit, ad heredem suum decem transmittet.
Julian adduces the following argument in support of his opinion: 'Let my heir give Seia ten, or, if she gives birth, the land.' For he says that if she dies before she gives birth, she will transmit the ten to her heir.
§36.2.14.2Si ita quis legauerit filio familias, ut ipsi soluatur, potest procedere legatum nec imputari heredi, cur non patri, sed potius filio soluat: finge enim hoc nominatim expressum ita ut filio || soluat': certe si pater petat, exceptione erit repellendus.
If someone bequeaths to a son in power (filius familias) in such a way that payment is to be made to him personally, the legacy can proceed and it cannot be imputed to the heir as a fault why he pays the son rather than the father. For imagine this to be expressly stated by name: 'so that he pays || the son'. Certainly, if the father should sue, he must be repelled by an exception.
§36.2.14.3Si dies legati cesserit, deinde legatarius in ius alienum peruenit, ipsi potius debetur legatum, in cuius ipse ius peruenit: transeunt enim cum eo, quae ei debebantur.
If the right to the legacy has become vested (dies cesserit) and then the legatee comes under the power of another, the legacy is due rather to the person under whose power he himself has come: for what was due to him passes along with him.
sed si sub condicione fuerit legatum, non transit, sed exspectabit condicionem eique adquiretur, cuius iuris erit condicionis existentis tempore: quod si sui iuris fuerit eo tempore, sibi potius adquiret.
But if the legacy was conditional, it does not pass, but will await the condition, and will be acquired by the person under whose power he is at the time the condition is fulfilled; but if he is independent (sui iuris) at that time, he will acquire it for himself instead.

Notes

  1. §36.2.14.prutrum legatarius uoluerit — The word utrum is the neuter accusative (used adverbially) of the pronoun uter ('whichever of the two'), functioning relatively to express that the choice is left to the legatee's discretion.
  2. §36.2.14.prmortem propter decem, aditionem propter usum fructum — A highly elliptical construction where the preceding gerundive of obligation spectandum [esse] must be supplied for each phrase: 'the death [must be looked at] for the ten, the acceptance [must be looked at] for the usufruct'.
  3. §36.2.14.1posse dici decem transtulisse — The perfect active infinitive transtulisse has the preceding legatarius as its implied subject, forming an accusative and infinitive (A.C.I.) construction: 'it can be said that [the legatee] has transmitted the ten'.
  4. §36.2.14.2nec imputari heredi, cur non patri, sed potius filio soluat — The word imputari is a passive infinitive. The cur clause introduces an indirect question showing the ground of the charge ('why he pays the son rather than the father'). The whole forms an impersonal passive construction: 'nor can it be imputed to the heir as a fault why...'.
  5. §36.2.14.3eique adquiretur, cuius iuris erit condicionis existentis tempore — cuius is the genitive of the relative pronoun qui, indicating power or status in the phrase cuius iuris ('under whose power'). The antecedent of cuius is the dative pronoun ei in the main clause. condicionis existentis tempore is an ablative of time ('at the time of the fulfillment of the condition').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.2.14.pr-36.2.14.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.2.14.pr-36.2.14.3

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