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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.1.50.pr-5.1.50.2

Jurisdiction for Trust Claims and Location of Inheritance

Passage 931 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses that claims for a trust (fideicommissum) should generally be made where the majority of the inheritance is located, and addresses how debts, specific burdens, or the heir's domicile affect this jurisdictional objection.

[ULPIANUS libro sexto fideicommissorum. ] §5.1.50.prSi fideicommissum ab aliquo petatur isque dicat alibi esse maiorem partem hereditatis, non erit ad praestationem compellendus: et ita multis constitutionibus cauetur, ut ibi petatur fideicommissum, ubi maior pars hereditatis est: nisi si probetur eo loco uoluisse testatorem fideicommissum praestari, ubi petitur.
[ULPIANUS libro sexto fideicommissorum.] If a fideicommissum is claimed from someone, and they state that the greater part of the inheritance is elsewhere, they shall not be compelled to perform it: and it is so provided by many constitutions, that the fideicommissum should be claimed where the greater part of the inheritance is: unless it is proved that the testator wished the fideicommissum to be performed in that place where it is claimed.
§5.1.50.1Tractatum est de aere alieno: si in ea prouincia, ubi fideicommissum petitur, plus esset aeris alieni, an quasi maior pars alibi esset, praescriptio locum haberet.
There has been a discussion concerning debts: if in that province where the fideicommissum is claimed, there were more debts, whether the objection would have place, as if the greater part were elsewhere.
sed et hic placuit nihil facere aeris alieni nomen, cum non loci sit aes alienum, sed uniuersarum facultatium: aes enim alienum patrimonium totum imminuere constitit, non certi loci facultates.
But here also it was decided that the designation of debt does nothing, since debt belongs not to a place, but to the entire assets: for it is established that debt diminishes the whole patrimony, not the resources of a certain place.
quid tamen si forte certis oneribus destinatum sit id patrimonium, ut puta alimentis praestandis quae Romae praestari pater familias iusserat, uel tributis uel quibusdum aliis inexcusabilibus oneribus, an possit praescriptio locum habere? hic putem iustius dici locum habere.
What, however, if that patrimony should happen to be destined for certain burdens, such as providing maintenance which the paterfamilias had ordered to be provided at Rome, or taxes, or some other unavoidable burdens, could the objection have place? Here I should think it more just to say that it has place.
§5.1.50.2Sed et rescriptum est, ut illic fideicommissum petatur, ubi domicilium heres habet.
But it was also replied by rescript, that the fideicommissum should be claimed where the heir has his domicile.
quotiens autem coepit quis fideicommissum soluere, non potest hac praescriptione uti,
Whenever, however, anyone has begun to pay a fideicommissum, they cannot use this objection,

Notes

  1. §5.1.50.pralibi esse maiorem partem hereditatis — An accusative with infinitive clause (indirect speech) functioning as the object of dicat (states that...). The subject of the infinitive is the accusative maiorem partem.
  2. §5.1.50.1nihil facere — An infinitive phrase functioning as the subject of the impersonal verb placuit (it was decided). It is used idiomatically to mean "to have no effect" or "to matter nothing," with the accusative aes alieni nomen as its subject.
  3. §5.1.50.1loci ... uniuersarum facultatium — Predicative possessive genitives ("belongs to...", "is of..."), explaining where the debt (aes alienum) is attributed, indicating that it belongs not to a specific place but to the entire assets.
  4. §5.1.50.1alimentis praestandis — A gerundive phrase in agreement, in the dative (or ablative) case without a preposition, dependent on the participle destinatum (destined for) to indicate purpose or designation.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.1.50.pr-5.1.50.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.1.50.pr-5.1.50.2

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