[IDEM libro undecimo ad edictum. ] §4.4.3.prDenique diuus Seuerus et imperator noster huiusmodi consulum uel praesidum decreta quasi ambitiosa esse interpretati sunt, ipsi autem perraro minoribus rerum suarum administrationem extra ordinem indulserunt: et eodem iure utimur.
[THE SAME, in the eleventh book on the Edict.] In short, the deified Severus and our Emperor interpreted decrees of this kind by consuls or governors as being, as it were, for the sake of popularity, and they themselves very rarely, out of the ordinary course, granted to minors the administration of their own property; and we follow the same rule of law.
§4.4.3.1Si quis cum minore contraxerit et contractus inciderit in tempus quo maior efficitur: utrum initium spectamus an finem? et placet, ut est et constitutum, si quis maior factus conprobauerit, quod minor gesserat, restitutionem cessare.
If anyone has contracted with a minor, and the contract extends into the time when he becomes of age: do we look at the beginning or the end? And it is accepted, as has also been constitutionally established, that if anyone, having become of age, approves what he had done as a minor, restitution ceases to be available.
unde illud non ineleganter Celsus epistularum libro undecimo et digestorum secundo tractat, ex facto a Flauio Respecto praetore consultus.
Hence Celsus discusses this point not inelegantly in the eleventh book of his Letters and the second of his Digests, having been consulted on a case of fact by the praetor Flavius Respectus.
minor annis uiginti quinque, annos forte uiginti quattuor agens, iudicium tutelae heredi tutoris dictauerat: mox factum ut (non finito iudicio iam eo maiore effecto uiginti quinque annis) tutoris heres absolutus proponeretur: in integrum restitutio desiderabatur.
A person under twenty-five years of age, perhaps in his twenty-fourth year, had brought a guardianship action against the heir of his guardian; soon it happened that, while the trial was not yet finished and he had already become of age by reaching twenty-five, a decision was proposed that the heir of the guardian should be acquitted; restitution to the original state was desired.
Celsus igitur Respecto suasit non facile hunc quondam minorem in integrum restitui, sed si ei probaretur calliditate aduersarii id actum, ut maiore eo facto liberaretur: neque enim extremo, inquit, iudicii die uidetur solum deceptus hic minor, sed totum hoc structum, ut maiore eo facto liberaretur. idem tamen confitetur, si leuior sit suspicio aduersarii quasi dolose uersati, non debere hunc in integrum restitui.
Celsus therefore advised Respectus that this former minor should not easily be restored to his original state, unless it was proved to him that this had been done through the cunning of the adversary, so that he would be released after the minor became of age; "for this minor," he says, "does not seem to have been deceived only on the last day of the trial, but this whole thing was structured so that the adversary would be released after he became of age." However, the same writer confesses that if the suspicion of the adversary having acted deceitfully is very slight, this person ought not to be restored to his original state.
§4.4.3.2Scio etiam illud aliquando incidisse.
I also know that this has sometimes occurred.
minor uiginti quinque annis miscuerat se paternae hereditati maiorque factus exegerat aliquid a debitoribus paternis, mox desiderabat restitui in integrum, quo magis abstineret paterna hereditate: contradicebatur ei, quasi maior factus comprobasset, quod minori sibi placuit: putauimus tamen restituendum in integrum initio inspecto.
A person under twenty-five years of age had meddled with his father's estate, and having become of age had collected something from his father's debtors, and soon desired to be restored to his original state so that he might rather abstain from his father's estate. It was objected against him that, having become of age, he had approved what had pleased him as a minor; however, we thought that he should be restored to his original state, looking at the beginning.
idem puto, et si alienam adiit hereditatem.
I think the same if he has entered upon an estate of a stranger.
§4.4.3.3Minorem autem uiginti quinque annis natu uidendum, an etiam die natalis sui adhuc dicimus ante horam qua natus est, ut si captus sit restituatur? et cum nondum compleuerit, ita erit dicendum, ut a momento in momentum tempus spectetur.
But as for a person under twenty-five years of age, we must see whether, even on his birthday, we still say he is a minor before the hour at which he was born, so that if he has been defrauded, he may be restored. And since he has not yet completed the age, it must be said that time is looked at from moment to moment.
proinde et si bissexto natus est, siue priore siue posteriore die Celsus scripsit nihil referre: nam id biduum pro uno die habetur et posterior dies kalendarum intercalatur.
Accordingly, even if he was born in a leap year, whether on the prior or the posterior day, Celsus wrote that it makes no difference; for those two days are held as one day, and the posterior day is intercalated.