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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.4.14.pr

Diminishing Property for Sustenance by a Female Possessor

Passage 5706 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It states that a woman who is in possession of estate goods to preserve legacies may, if she is a close relative of the testator and has no other support, diminish the goods for her own sustenance.

[LABEO libro secundo posteriorum a Iauoleno epitomatorum. ] §36.4.14.prQuae legatorum seruandorum causa in bonis est, in causa uescendi deminuet, si filia neptis proneptis uxorue esset nec nupta sit nec suum quicquam habeat.
[LABEO, book 2 of the Posthumous Works, epitomized by Javolenus] A woman who is in possession of goods for the purpose of preserving legacies may diminish them for the purpose of sustenance, if she was a daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, or wife, and is not married, and has no property of her own.

Notes

  1. §36.4.14.prdeminuet — The transitive verb deminuere (to diminish, reduce) is used here intransitively or with an implied object (the estate goods in her possession). In legal contexts, it refers to the reduction of an estate's value by spending or disposing of parts of it for her upkeep.
  2. §36.4.14.prin causa uescendi — uescendi is the genitive of the gerund of uescor (to feed upon, live on). Combined with in causa (for the sake of, on account of), it means 'for the purpose of sustenance' or 'for the sake of obtaining food'.
  3. §36.4.14.presset ... sit ... habeat — Within the conditional clause, the subjunctive imperfect (esset) is used for her relationship to the deceased testator, whereas the subjunctive present (sit, habeat) is used for her current marital and financial status. The former refers to a status continuing up to the testator's death, while the latter refers to her situation at the time the legacy is being claimed.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.4.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.4.14.pr

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