Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §44.2.15.pr

Mutual Claims to an Inheritance and Res Judicata

Passage 7228 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains the feasibility of mutual claims when both parties disputing an inheritance possess parts of it, and how the outcome of the first judgment affects the exception of res judicata in a subsequent claim.

[GAIUS libro trigensimo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §44.2.15.prSi inter me et te controuersia de hereditate sit et quasdam res ex eadem tu possides, quasdam ego: nihil uetat et me a te et inuicem te a me hereditatem petere.
[GAIUS, on the provincial edict, book thirty.] If there is a dispute between me and you concerning an inheritance, and you possess certain things from the same, and I certain others: nothing prevents both me from claiming the inheritance from you, and in turn you from me.
quod si post rem iudicatam a me petere coeperis, interest, utrum meam esse hereditatem pronuntiatum sit an contra: si meam esse, nocebit tibi rei iudicatae exceptio, quia eo ipso, quod meam esse pronuntiatum est, ex diuerso pronuntiatum uidetur tuam non esse: si uero meam non esse, nihil de tuo iure iudicatum intellegitur, quia potest nec mea hereditas esse nec tua.
But if, after the matter has been decided, you begin to claim it from me, it makes a difference whether it has been pronounced that the inheritance is mine, or the contrary: if it was pronounced to be mine, the exception of res judicata will bar you, because by that very fact, that it was pronounced to be mine, on the other hand it is deemed to have been pronounced that it is not yours; but if it was pronounced not to be mine, it is understood that nothing has been decided concerning your right, because it is possible that the inheritance is neither mine nor yours.

Notes

  1. §44.2.15.prex eadem — Modifies the preceding noun hereditate. The noun hereditate is omitted in the phrase ex eadem [hereditate] (from the same inheritance).
  2. §44.2.15.prnihil uetat et me a te et inuicem te a me hereditatem petere — The verb uetat (prevents) governs the accusative and infinitive (AcI) construction. Here, two AcI clauses, me... petere and te... petere, are connected by the correlative conjunctions et... et... (both... and...).
  3. §44.2.15.printerest, utrum meam esse hereditatem pronuntiatum sit an contra — The impersonal verb interest (it matters / makes a difference) takes the indirect question clause introduced by utrum... an... (whether... or...) as its subject. Inside this clause, meam esse is an accusative with infinitive (AcI) depending on pronuntiatum sit.
  4. §44.2.15.prsi meam esse — A conditional clause in which the verb part from the preceding indirect question is omitted, standing for si pronuntiatum sit meam esse (if it has been pronounced to be mine). The subsequent si uero meam non esse (but if it was pronounced not to be mine) shares the same elliptical structure.
  5. §44.2.15.prpronuntiatum uidetur tuam non esse — This is a personal construction of uidetur (it is deemed) with the nominative neuter singular participle pronuntiatum. Rather than an impersonal 'it seems that it was pronounced', it means that the subject (the inheritance) is deemed to have been pronounced not to be yours.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §44.2.15.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:44.2.15.pr

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