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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.3.50.pr-5.3.50.1

Legal Nature of Inheritance and Monument Expenses

Passage 1048 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinianus states that an inheritance holds a legal existence even without any physical body, and argues why a bona fide possessor who built a monument to fulfill a testamentary condition should be allowed to recover or retain the expenses.

[IDEM libro sexto quaestionum. ] §5.3.50.prHereditas etiam sine ullo corpore iuris intellectum habet.
[THE SAME in his sixth book of Questions.] An inheritance has a legal conception even without any physical body.
§5.3.50.1Si defuncto monumentum condicionis implendae gratia bonae fidei possessor fecerit, potest dici, quia uoluntas defuncti uel in hoc seruanda est, utique si probabilem modum faciendi monumenti sumptus, uel quantum testator iusserit, non excedat, eum, cui aufertur hereditas, impensas ratione doli exceptione aut retenturum aut actione negotiorum gestorum repetiturum, ueluti hereditario negotio gesto: quamuis enim stricto iure nulla teneantur actione heredes ad monumentum faciendum, tamen principali uel pontificali auctoritate compelluntur ad obsequium supremae uoluntatis.
If a bona fide possessor, for the sake of fulfilling a condition, has built a monument for the deceased, it can be said—since the will of the deceased must be observed even in this matter, especially if the expense does not exceed a reasonable limit for making the monument or the amount the testator ordered—that the person from whom the inheritance is taken away will either retain the expenses by means of the exception of fraud, or recover them by the action for business management, as if an inheritance affair had been managed. For although by strict law the heirs are not bound by any action to build a monument, they are nevertheless compelled by imperial or pontifical authority to comply with the supreme will.

Notes

  1. §5.3.50.1eum, cui aufertur hereditas — The subject of the accusative with infinitive construction (`eum... retenturum aut... repetiturum [esse]`). The phrase 'the person from whom the inheritance is taken away' refers to the 'bona fide possessor' who, having possessed the inheritance, must restore it to the true heir as a result of the petition for inheritance (`hereditatis petitio`).
  2. §5.3.50.1ratione doli exceptione — Meaning 'by reason of the exception of fraud/bad faith (`exceptio doli`)'. It refers to the possessor's use of the exception to refuse to hand over the inheritance until reimbursed for the expenses (functioning similarly to a right of retention). The ablative of means `exceptione` is modified by the phrase `ratione doli`.
  3. §5.3.50.1actione negotiorum gestorum repetiturum — `actione` is an ablative of means modifying the future active infinitive `repetiturum` (`repetiturum esse`), meaning 'will recover by the action for business management'. Although building a monument is not strictly the heir's obligation under strict law, the following ablative absolute `ueluti hereditario negotio gesto` ('as if an inheritance affair had been managed') introduces a legal fiction allowing recovery of expenses as quasi-business management.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.3.50.pr-5.3.50.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.3.50.pr-5.3.50.1

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