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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.17.17.pr-49.17.17.1

Father's Liability for Debts and Legacies under Peculium

Passage 8635 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section defines the scope and duration of a father's liability for debts and legacies when he retains the castrense peculium of an intestate son or when he declines inheritance under a soldier son's will.

[IDEM libro secundo definitionum. ] §49.17.17.prPater, qui castrense peculium intestati filii retinebit, aes alienum intra modum eius et annum utilem iure praetorio soluere cogitur: idem, si testamento scriptus heres extiterit, perpetuo ciuiliter ut heres conuenietur.
[THE SAME in his second book of Definitions.] A father who retains the castrense peculium of an intestate son is compelled by praetorian law to pay the debt within the limit of it and within a useful year (annus utilis): the same man, if he stands as an heir appointed by a will, will be sued perpetually under civil law as an heir.
§49.17.17.1Pater a filio milite uel qui militauit heres institutus testamenti causam omisit et castrense peculium possidet: legitimi heredis exemplo cogetur ad finem peculii perpetuo legata praestare.
A father, appointed as heir by a son who is a soldier or who has served, has declined the cause of the will and possesses the castrense peculium: after the example of a statutory heir, he will be compelled to pay the legacies perpetually to the limit of the peculium.
quod si filius post annum quam militare desierat iure communi testamento facto uita decessit, ratione Falcidiae retinebitur quarta.
But if the son, having made a will under common law more than a year after he had ceased to serve, departed from life, a fourth part will be retained by reason of the Falcidian law.
ceterum si testamenti causam pater omisit, cum peculium creditoribus soluendo non esset, nihil dolo uidebitur fecisse, quamuis temporis incurrat compendium.
Furthermore, if the father declined the cause of the will when the peculium was not solvent for the creditors, he will not be deemed to have done anything with malicious intent, even though he obtains an advantage of time.

Notes

  1. §49.17.17.1soluendo non esset — soluendo is the dative of the gerund of soluere, which, combined with esse, forms an idiomatic expression meaning 'to be solvent'. Here, with the negative non, it refers to a state of insolvency of the peculium.
  2. §49.17.17.1temporis incurrat compendium — temporis compendium (saving/advantage of time) refers to the temporal benefit of limiting the liability (which would be perpetual under civil law if he accepted the inheritance) to the shorter period (one useful year) of praetorian actions, thereby enjoying the release from liability through the lapse of time.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.17.17.pr-49.17.17.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.17.17.pr-49.17.17.1

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