Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.2.6.pr-36.2.6.2

Conditional Revocation and Transmission of Suspended Legacies

Passage 5647 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains the legal status when an unconditional legacy is conditionally revoked, and how a legacy suspended by an external factor rather than the testament itself is treated as a delay, allowing the right to be transmitted to the heir.

[PAULUS libro tertio ad Sabinum. ] §36.2.6.prQuod pure datum est si sub condicione adimatur, quasi sub condicione legatum habetur.
[PAULUS in the third book on Sabinus.] If a legacy which was given unconditionally is revoked under a condition, it is treated as a conditional legacy.
§36.2.6.1At si exstrinsecus suspendatur legatum, non ex ipso testamento: licet ante decedat legatarius, ad heredem transmississe legatum dicimus: ueluti si rem dotalem maritus legauerit extero et uxori aliquam pro dotali re pecuniam, deinde deliberante uxore de electione dotis decesserit legatarius atque legatum elegerit mulier, ad heredem transire legatum dictum est.
But if a legacy is suspended by an external circumstance and not by the testament itself, although the legatee dies beforehand, we say that he has transmitted the legacy to his heir; for example, if a husband bequeaths a dotal property to a stranger and to his wife a certain sum of money in place of the dotal property, and then, while the wife is deliberating on the choice of the dotal property, the legatee dies, and subsequent to this the woman chooses the legacy, it has been held that the legacy passes to the heir.
idque et Iulianus respondit: magis enim mora quam condicio legato iniecta uidetur.
And Julian also gave this opinion; for it seems that a delay rather than a condition is imposed on the legacy.
§36.2.6.2Eorum legatorum, quae in codicillis relicta sunt, perinde dies cedit atque testamento relictorum.
The day of those legacies which are left in codicils vests in the same manner as that of those left in a testament.

Notes

  1. §36.2.6.prQuod pure datum est — A relative clause containing its own antecedent ("that which was given unconditionally"), which functions as the substantial subject (or the theme placed at the beginning of the sentence) of the main clause `quasi sub condicione legatum habetur`. The conditional clause `si sub condicione adimatur` is inserted immediately after it.
  2. §36.2.6.1licet ante decedat legatarius — The conjunction `licet` is used with the present subjunctive `decedat` to form a concessive clause ("although the legatee dies beforehand" [i.e., before the external event is determined]). The main clause is the accusative and infinitive construction `ad heredem transmississe legatum dicimus`.
  3. §36.2.6.1deliberante uxore — An ablative absolute construction formed by the present participle `deliberante` and the noun `uxore`, expressing the temporal circumstance ("while the wife is deliberating [on the choice of the dotal property]").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.2.6.pr-36.2.6.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.2.6.pr-36.2.6.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.