Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.2.29.pr

Trust with Indefinite Time: Vesting and Performance

Passage 5670 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment raises a question regarding a trust with an indefinite time for performance ("whenever my heir gives..."), asking whether both the vesting of the right and the demand for performance occur as soon as the heir is first able to pay.

[UALENS libro primo fideicommissorum. ] §36.2.29.pr'Rogo, quandoque heres meus Titio decem det': utique decem heres debebit, sed quando, dubitari potest: utrum cum primum potuerit, et dies cedit et ab ipso petitur.
[VALENS, first book of Trusts.] "I request that, whenever it may be, my heir give ten to Titius." The heir will certainly owe ten, but it can be doubted when: whether, as soon as he is able, the right both vests and is demanded from him.

Notes

  1. 36.2.29.prquandoque — The adverb "quandoque" means "at some time" or "whenever." Since no specific date (dies) for performance is designated in the testament, it leaves the timing open, which raises the legal question of when the obligation actually vests and becomes actionable.
  2. 36.2.29.prutrum cum primum potuerit, et dies cedit et ab ipso petitur — The particle "utrum" introduces an indirect question, but the corresponding "an" clause is omitted. It presents only one possibility: "whether, as soon as he is able, the right both vests (dies cedit) and is demanded from him," while leaving the alternative (such as vesting immediately upon the testator's death) implied.
  3. 36.2.29.prpotuerit — Third-person singular future perfect indicative or perfect subjunctive of "possum." In the temporal-conditional clause "cum + perfect," it represents the factual prerequisite of the heir becoming able to pay, which must occur prior to the vesting and demanding of the legacy.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.2.29.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.2.29.pr

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