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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.2.21.pr-5.2.21.2

Resumption of Suit after Fraud and Rights on Eviction

Passage 985 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the resumption of a complaint of an inofficious testament after fraudulent abandonment, the denial of recovery for a legacy paid knowingly when not due, and the restoration of the instituted heir's claims upon eviction of the inheritance.

[PAULUS libro tertio responsorum. ] §5.2.21.prEum, qui inofficiosi testamenti querellam instituit et fraude heredis scripti, quasi tertiam partem hereditatis tacite rogatus esset ei restituere, reliquit eam actionem, non uideri deseruisse querellam et ideo non prohiberi eum repetere inchoatam actionem.
[SCAEVOLA in his Third Book of Opinions.] A person who has instituted a complaint of an inofficious testament, and who, by the fraud of the appointed heir—as if the latter had been tacitly requested to restore a third part of the inheritance to him—abandoned that action, does not seem to have deserted the complaint, and therefore he is not prohibited from resuming the action he had begun.
§5.2.21.1Item quaesitum est, an heres audiendus est, ante de inofficiosi querellam actam desiderans restitui sibi ea quae soluit.
Likewise, it was asked whether an heir should be heard who, before the complaint of an inofficious testament is tried, desires that what he paid be restored to him.
respondit ei, qui sciens indebitum fideicommissum soluit, nullam repetitionem ex ea causa competere.
He answered that to one who knowingly paid a trust that was not due, no recovery on that ground is available.
§5.2.21.2Idem respondit, euicta hereditate per inofficiosi querellam ab eo qui heres institutus esset, perinde omnia obseruari oportere, ac si hereditas adita non fuisset: et ideo et petitionem integram debiti heredi instituto aduersus eum qui superauit competere et compensationem debiti.
The same writer answered that when an inheritance has been evicted through a complaint of an inofficious testament from one who had been appointed heir, all things must be observed just as if the inheritance had not been accepted; and therefore, the appointed heir has both an unimpaired claim for a debt against the one who prevailed, and the set-off of the debt.

Notes

  1. §5.2.21.prfraude heredis scripti, quasi tertiam partem hereditatis tacite rogatus esset ei restituere — fraude is an ablative of cause. The quasi clause with the subjunctive rogatus esset describes the content or assumption of the fraud. The subject of rogatus esset is the appointed heir (heres scriptus), and ei refers to the claimant (Eum), the antecedent of the relative clause.
  2. §5.2.21.1ante de inofficiosi querellam actam — The preposition ante governs the accusative phrase querellam actam, while de inofficiosi modifies querellam. The noun-participle construction (querella acta) expresses the temporal event: "before the complaint is tried/argued."
  3. §5.2.21.2perinde omnia obseruari oportere, ac si hereditas adita non fuisset — perinde... ac si introduces a conditional comparison meaning "just as if." non fuisset is a pluperfect subjunctive expressing a past contrary-to-fact condition.
  4. §5.2.21.2petitionem integram debiti heredi instituto aduersus eum qui superauit competere — petitionem and compensationem are the subjects of the accusative-and-infinitive construction, with the infinitive competere. heredi instituto is the dative governed by competere ("to belong to/be available to"). It indicates that the appointed heir's claim against the deceased, which had been extinguished by merger upon acceptance of the inheritance, is restored upon eviction.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.2.21.pr-5.2.21.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.2.21.pr-5.2.21.2

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