Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.8.2.pr

Denial of Usucapion on Mistaken Belief of a Legacy

Passage 6836 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains that if one possesses an object mistakenly believing it was bequeathed to them, one cannot acquire it by usucapion as a legacy if no such legacy actually existed.

[PAULUS libro quinquagensimo quarto ad edictum. ] §41.8.2.prSi possideam aliquam rem, quam putabam mihi legatam, cum non esset, pro legato non usucapiam:
[PAULUS, from his fifty-fourth book on the Edict.] If I should possess some thing which I thought had been bequeathed to me, though it was not, I shall not acquire it by usucapion as a legacy.

Notes

  1. §41.8.2.prquam putabam mihi legatam — This is an accusative-with-infinitive construction with the relative pronoun quam acting as the subject accusative, where esse is omitted after legatam. The imperfect putabam implies a mistaken belief ("I thought, though incorrectly").
  2. §41.8.2.prcum non esset — The conjunction cum here expresses concession or contrast ("although it was not", "when in fact it was not") and takes the subjunctive imperfect esset. The omitted subject refers to the legacy or "the fact that the thing had been bequeathed to me".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.8.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.8.2.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.