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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.2.26.pr

Share of the Patron upon Freedman's Death on Vesting Day

Passage 5962 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Africanus answers that when a freedman dies on the vesting day of a bequest having appointed an extraneous heir, the patron can claim his due share based on a recalculated higher value of the inheritance, unaffected by whether the heir rejects the bequest.

[AFRICANUS libro secundo quaestionum. ] §38.2.26.prLiberto octoginta habenti fundus quadraginta legatus est: is die cedente legati decessit extraneo herede instituto.
[AFRICANUS, in the second book of Questions.] To a freedman possessing eighty, a tract of land worth forty was bequeathed. He died on the day the bequest vested, having appointed an extraneous heir.
respondit posse patronum partem debitam uindicare: nam uideri defunctum mortis tempore ampliorem habuisse rem centum, cum hereditas eius propter computationem legati pluris uenire possit.
He answered that the patron can claim his due share; for the deceased is considered to have possessed a larger property of one hundred at the time of his death, since his inheritance, due to the calculation of the bequest, can be sold for more.
neque referre, heres institutus repudiet legatum liberto relictum nec ne: nam et si de lege Falcidia quaeratur, tale legatum quamuis repudiatum in quadrantem hereditatis imputatur legatariis.
Nor does it matter whether the appointed heir rejects the bequest left to the freedman or not; for even if a question is raised concerning the Lex Falcidia, such a bequest, although rejected, is imputed to the legatees towards the fourth part of the inheritance.

Notes

  1. §38.2.26.prdie cedente — A legal term in Roman law referring to the 'vesting day' (dies cedens), the day on which a bequest becomes effective and the right vests in the legatee (usually the day of the testator's death). Here it is accompanied by the genitive complement legati ('of the bequest').
  2. §38.2.26.pruenire — Not the infinitive of uenio ('to come'), but the present active infinitive of uēneō ('to be sold', which functions as the passive of uendo, 'to sell'). Accompanied by the genitive of value pluris, it means 'to be sold (or valued) for more'.
  3. §38.2.26.prheres institutus — In this context, it refers to the 'extraneous heir' (extraneus heres) appointed in the freedman's will. The question is whether he rejects (repudiet) the bequest left to the freedman (legatum liberto relictum).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.2.26.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.2.26.pr

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