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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.2.25.pr-36.2.25.1

Conditional Alternative Legacies and Bequests of Debt

Passage 5666 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the validity of disjunctive legacies when one option is conditional, the effect of bequeathing a debt owed by a pupillus depending on whether a civil or natural obligation was intended, and the vesting of rights (dies cedit) under a tacit condition.

[PAPINIANUS libro octauo decimo quaestionum. ] §36.2.25.prCum illud aut illud legetur, enumeratio plurium rerum disiunctiuo modo comprehensa plura legata non facit.
[PAPINIANUS, eighteenth book of Questions.] When this or that is bequeathed, the enumeration of several things comprehended in a disjunctive manner does not make several legacies.
nec aliud probari poterit, si pure fundum alterum uel alterum sub condicione legauerit: nam pendente condicione non erit electio nec, si moriatur, ad heredem transisse legatum uidebitur.
Nor can any other rule be approved if he has bequeathed one tract of land unconditionally and another under a condition; for while the condition is pending, there will be no choice, nor, if he dies, will the legacy be deemed to have passed to his heir.
'Heres meus Titio dato quod mihi Seius debet'. §36.2.25.1si Seius pupillus sine tutoris auctoritate nummos accepit nec locupletior factus est et creditor ad praesens debitum uerba rettulit, quia nihil Seius debet, nullius momenti legatum erit: quod si uerbo debiti naturalem obligationem et futuram solutionem cogitauit, interim nihil Titius petet, quasi tacite condicio inserta sit, non secus ac si ita dixisset: 'Titio dato, quod pupillus soluerit' uel si legasset 'quod ex Arethusa natum erit' uel 'fructus, qui in illo fundo nascentur'. contrarium non est, quod, si medio tempore legatarius moriatur et postea partus edatur, fructus perueniant, pecuniam pupillus exsoluat, heres legatarii petitionem habet: namque dies legati, cui condicio non adscribitur, quamuis extrinsecus exspectanda sit, cedit.
'Let my heir give Titius what Seius owes me.' If Seius, a pupillus, has received money without the authority of his tutor, and has not become richer, and the creditor referred the words to a present debt, because Seius owes nothing, the legacy will be of no effect. But if by the word 'debt' he contemplated a natural obligation and future payment, Titius shall in the meantime demand nothing, as if a condition had been tacitly inserted, just as if he had said: 'Let him give Titius what the pupillus shall have paid,' or if he had bequeathed 'what shall be born of Arethusa' or 'the fruits which shall grow on that land.' It is not contradictory that, if in the meantime the legatee dies and afterwards a child is born, the fruits are gathered, or the pupillus pays the money, the heir of the legatee has the right of action; for the right to a legacy to which no condition is attached is vested (dies cedit), although its realization must be awaited from external circumstances.

Notes

  1. 36.2.25.prpendente condicione — An ablative absolute construction with the present participle `pendente` and the noun `condicione` ('while the condition is pending'). It explains that as long as the condition of one of the options remains unresolved, its validity is not fixed, and thus no choice (electio) arises for the legatee.
  2. 36.2.25.1quod — The conjunction `quod` in the phrase `contrarium non est, quod...` introduces an appositional noun clause specifying the content of the main clause adjective `contrarium`, meaning 'the fact that ... is not contradictory'.
  3. 36.2.25.1dies... cedit — A technical term of Roman law, `dies (legati) cedit`, meaning the vesting of the right to the legacy in the legatee, making it transmissible. Since no explicit condition is attached, even if the factual occurrence (such as a birth or payment) must be awaited, the right itself is vested upon the testator's death and passes to the legatee's heir even if the legatee dies before the occurrence.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.2.25.pr-36.2.25.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.2.25.pr-36.2.25.1

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