Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §37.9.10.pr

Possession of Goods Claimed by a Posthumous Child

Passage 5815 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus states that a posthumous child, if conceived before the testator's death, can claim possession of goods after birth, explaining that the praetor grants possession to an unborn child only in anticipation of granting it upon birth.

[PAULUS libro septimo quaestionum. ] §37.9.10.prPostumus natus quocumque tempore, qui tamen testatoris morte conceptus iam erit, potest agnoscere bonorum possessionem: nam et uentrem praetor ex omnibus partibus edicti mittit in possessionem bonorum, non missurus scilicet, si ei nato daturus non esset bonorum possessionem.
[PAULUS, Questions, book 7] A posthumous child born at any time, provided however that they were already conceived at the death of the testator, can request the possession of goods; for the praetor also, under all parts of the edict, puts the unborn child into possession of goods, being obviously not about to put them into possession if he were not going to grant the possession of goods to them when born.

Notes

  1. §37.9.10.prnon missurus scilicet, si ei nato daturus non esset bonorum possessionem — A simplified conditional structure using the future active participle. The participle 'non missurus', agreeing with the subject of the main clause ('praetor'), functions as the apodosis to the conditional clause 'si ... non esset', expressing the hypothetical meaning 'he would not be about to send'. 'ei nato' is a dative of interest/direction governed by 'daturus', with 'nato' acting temporally as 'when born'.
  2. §37.9.10.prtestatoris morte conceptus iam erit — 'morte' is an ablative of time ('at the death'). 'conceptus erit' is a future perfect passive, indicating a completed state ('will already have been conceived') in relation to the main action 'potest', referring back to the specific moment of the testator's death.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §37.9.10.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:37.9.10.pr

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.