Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.3.42.pr

Liability of a Debtor Contesting the Heir's Status

Passage 1040 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that a debtor of the inheritance is not subject to the petition for inheritance if they refuse to pay because they doubt the plaintiff's status as heir, rather than claiming to be the heir themselves.

[ULPIANUS libro sexagensimo septimo ad edictum. ] §5.3.42.prSi debitor hereditarius non ideo nolit soluere, quod se dicat heredem, sed ideo quod neget aut dubitet, an hereditas pertineat ad eum qui petit hereditatem, non tenetur hereditatis petitione.
[ULPIANUS in his sixty-seventh book on the Edict.] If a debtor of the inheritance refuses to pay, not because he claims that he himself is the heir, but because he denies or doubts whether the inheritance belongs to the person who is petitioning for the inheritance, he is not liable to the petition for inheritance.

Notes

  1. 5.3.42.prnon ideo... quod... sed ideo quod — This correlation expresses "not because... but because...". The subjunctive verbs in the quod-clauses (dicat, neget, dubitet) are used to indicate a subjective reason alleged by the subject.
  2. 5.3.42.prse dicat heredem — An accusative with infinitive construction (with 'esse' omitted), where the reflexive pronoun 'se' refers to the subject of 'dicat' (the debtor), meaning "claims that he himself is the heir."
  3. 5.3.42.pran hereditas pertineat — An indirect question clause with the present subjunctive 'pertineat', dependent on the preceding verbs 'neget' and 'dubitet'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.3.42.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.3.42.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.