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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.2.5.pr

Right of Cognates to Sue and the Sense of Inofficiosus

Passage 968 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Marcellus explains the capacity of those not descended from males to bring a complaint against an undutiful testament, the meaning of the term 'inofficiosus', and how the case is argued before a judge using the pretext that the testator was of unsound mind.

[MARCELLUS libro tertio digestorum. ] §5.2.5.prNam et his, qui non ex masculis descendunt, facultas est agendi, cum et de matris testamento agant et optinere adsidue soleant.
[MARCELLUS, Digest, Book 3] For even those who do not descend from males have the capacity to sue, since they also bring actions concerning a mother's testament and are constantly accustomed to prevail.
huius autem uerbi 'de inofficioso' uis illa ut dixi est docere immerentem se et ideo indigne praeteritum uel etiam exheredatione summotum: resque illo colore defenditur apud iudicem, ut uideatur ille quasi non sanae mentis fuisse, cum testamentum inique ordinaret.
Moreover, the force of this term 'inofficiosus', as I have said, is to show that one is undeserving [of such treatment] and has therefore been unworthily passed over or even excluded by disinheritance; and the case is defended before the judge under that pretext, so that the testator may appear to have been, as it were, of unsound mind when he unjustly drew up the testament.

Notes

  1. §5.2.5.prfacultas est agendi — agendi is the genitive of the gerund of agere (to bring an action, specifically the querela inofficiosi testamenti), modifying the noun facultas (capacity, power).
  2. §5.2.5.primmerentem se — This introduces an accusative and infinitive construction dependent on docere. se is the subject accusative, with which the adjective immerentem (undeserving, innocent) agrees. The infinitive esse is omitted after the participles praeteritum and summotum.
  3. §5.2.5.prillo colore — colore is the ablative of color (pretext, legal fiction), expressing means. It refers to the legal technique in Roman law where the plaintiff challenges a testament by using the fiction that the testator must have been of unsound mind (color insaniae) when making it.
  4. §5.2.5.prnon sanae mentis — A genitive of quality (genitive of description) serving as the complement of fuisse. It literally means 'of sound mind', negated by non to express 'of unsound mind'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.2.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.2.5.pr

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