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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.22.16.pr

Exceptional Legacy for the Sustenance of Deported Kin

Passage 8455 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section records a rescript of the Emperor Antoninus who, in response to petitions from Ulpianus Damascenus and his deported mother to leave property to each other, maintains the general prohibition of legacies to deported persons but exceptionally allows them to leave what is necessary for sustenance out of filial affection.

[IDEM libro. ] §48.22.16.prCum Ulpianus Damascenus ab imperatore petisset, ut matri deportatae ad uictum necessaria relinquere sibi permitteretur, item mater per libertum suum petisset, ut quaedam filio deportato relinquere liceret, imperator Antoninus ita iis rescripsit. 'Neque hereditas nec legatum nec fideicommissum contra consuetudinem legemque publicam huiusmodi personis relinqui potest neque earum condicionem mutari conuenit: quoniam autem pie rogastis, permitto uobis ultima uoluntate relinquere iis, quae ad uictum aliosque usus necessarios sufficiant, ut si quid ad eos ex his causis pertinebit, capere iis liceat'.
[THE SAME, from his Book [without title].] When Ulpianus Damascenus petitioned the emperor that he might be permitted to leave what was necessary for sustenance to his deported mother, and likewise the mother petitioned through her freedman that she might be allowed to leave certain things to her deported son, the Emperor Antoninus replied to them as follows: "Neither an inheritance, nor a legacy, nor a fideicommissum can be left to persons of this kind contrary to custom and public law, nor is it fitting for their status to be changed; but since you have petitioned out of filial affection, I permit you to leave to them by last will what may suffice for sustenance and other necessary uses, so that if anything shall accrue to them from these causes, they may be allowed to acquire it."

Notes

  1. 48.22.16.prearum — earum is the genitive plural feminine, taking its grammatical agreement from personis (plural of the feminine noun persona) in the phrase huiusmodi personis. In terms of actual context, it refers to both the mother (female) and the son (male), but it agrees with the grammatical gender of the antecedent noun.
  2. 48.22.16.prrelinquere iis, quae — iis is the dative plural (masculine/feminine) referring to the "persons" (the mother or the son) to whom the property is left (indirect object of relinquere). On the other hand, quae is the nominative plural neuter, acting as the subject of sufficiant. The antecedent of quae (the neuter plural accusative ea, acting as the direct object) is omitted. Thus, it means "to leave to them (iis) [those things] which (quae) are sufficient [for sustenance]."
  3. 48.22.16.prut si quid ad eos ex his causis pertinebit, capere iis liceat — Within the subordinate purpose clause ut ... liceat, a conditional clause si quid ... pertinebit is inserted. The verb of the conditional clause, pertinebit, is in the future indicative, anticipating the future validity of the permission. ex his causis ("from these causes") refers to the legal grounds of acquisition, namely "inheritance, legacy, or fideicommissum" in this context.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.22.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.22.16.pr

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