Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.2.4.pr

Conditionality of Legacies Payable upon Death

Passage 5645 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that a legacy to vest upon the heir's death is considered conditional and does not pass to the legatee's heirs if the legatee dies first, whereas a legacy to vest upon the legatee's own death is assuredly transmitted to their heirs.

[IDEM libro nono decimo ad Sabinum. ] §36.2.4.prSi 'cum heres morietur' legetur, condicionale legatum est: denique uiuo herede defunctus legatarius ad heredem non transfert.

[THE SAME in the nineteenth book on Sabinus] If a legacy is bequeathed in the terms 'when the heir dies', it is a conditional legacy; consequently, if the legatee dies while the heir is still living, he does not transfer [the right] to his own heir.

si uero 'cum ipse legatarius morietur' legetur ei, certum est legatum ad heredem transmitti.

But if it is bequeathed to him in the terms 'when the legatee himself dies', it is certain that the legacy is transmitted to his heir.

Notes

36.2.4.pruiuo herede — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun herede and the adjective uiuo, meaning 'while the heir is living'. It establishes the temporal condition under which the legatee's death (defunctus legatarius) occurs before that of the heir.
36.2.4.prcertum est legatum ad heredem transmitti — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction, with legatum as the subject accusative and transmitti as the present passive infinitive, serving as the subject of the impersonal phrase certum est ('it is certain'). It indicates that the transmission of the legacy to the heir is legally established.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.2.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.2.4.pr

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