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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.2.44.pr-38.2.44.2

Security for Trusts to Patrons and Accretions to Estate

Passage 5980 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the conditional relationship between legacies and trusts made to a patron, and the constancy of the patron's due share even when the estate is subsequently increased by a slave's return or alluvion.

[PAULUS libro quinto quaestionum. ] §38.2.44.prSi patronum ex debita portione heredem instituas et pure roges fundum dare eique sub condicione tantundem leges, in condicionem fideicommissum redigitur.
[PAULUS, in the fifth book of Questions.] If you appoint a patron as heir for his due share, and unconditionally request him to give a tract of land, and bequeath to him under a condition an equivalent amount, the trust is reduced to a condition.
erit tamen et hic quod moueat: onerabitur enim patronus satisdatione fideicommissi.
Yet, here too there is something that may cause concern: for the patron will be burdened with giving security for the trust.
sed dicendum est ab eo fideicommissario cauendum, a quo patrono legatum est, ut undique patronus suum ius habeat imminutum.
But it must be said that security should be provided by the beneficiary of the trust to whom the legacy was left by the patron, so that the patron may have his right undiminished in every respect.
§38.2.44.1Patronus heres institutus legato ei seruo, per quem suppleretur debita ei portio, non petet contra tabulas bonorum possessionem, quamuis seruus clusis tabulis decessit.
A patron appointed as heir, to whom a slave was bequeathed in order to make up his due share, shall not petition for possession of goods contrary to the will, even though the slave died after the will was sealed.
§38.2.44.2Si ex bonis, quae mortis tempore fuerunt, debitam partem dedit libertus in hereditate uel legato, seruus tamen post mortem liberti reuersus ab hostibus augeat patrimonium: non potest patronus propterea queri, quod minus habeat in seruo, quam haberet, si ex debita portione esset institutus.
If, from the goods which existed at the time of death, the freedman gave the due share in the inheritance or legacy, but a slave, returning from the enemy after the death of the freedman, increases the estate: the patron cannot complain on that account that he has less in the slave than he would have had if he had been appointed for his due share.
idem est et in alluuione, cum sit satisfactum ex his bonis, quae mortis tempore fuerunt.
The same applies to alluvion, since satisfaction has been made from those goods which existed at the time of death.
idem est et si pars legati liberto relicti ab eo, cui simul datum erat, uel hereditatis nunc illis abstinentibus adcrescat.
The same also applies if a portion of a legacy left by the freedman accrues from the person to whom it was given jointly, or if a portion of the inheritance accrues, those persons now abstaining.

Notes

  1. §38.2.44.primminutum — imminutum (or inminutus, composed of the negative prefix in- and minutus) means 'undiminished' or 'unimpaired.' Thus, it signifies that the patron should keep his right completely intact.
  2. §38.2.44.1clusis tabulis — Literally 'the tablets having been closed,' referring to the stage after the will was sealed or finalized. Even if the slave died after the will was finalized, the patron cannot petition for possession because the initial appointment was valid.
  3. §38.2.44.2liberto relicti — liberto refers to the agent (either with the preposition 'a' omitted or as a dative of agent), indicating the legacy left by the freedman as the testator.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.2.44.pr-38.2.44.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.2.44.pr-38.2.44.2

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