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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.78.pr

Possession as Ownership and Interpretation of Bequests

Passage 8892 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus states that the word 'possession' can sometimes signify ownership, citing a legal response concerning a person who bequeathed their 'possessions'.

[PAULUS libro tertio ad Plautium. ] §50.16.78.prInterdum proprietatem quoque uerbum 'possessionis' significat: sicut in eo, qui possessiones suas legasset, responsum est.
[PAULUS, on Plautius, book 3.] Sometimes the word 'possession' also signifies ownership; as was replied in the case of a person who had bequeathed his 'possessions'.

Notes

  1. §50.16.78.prpossessionis — Genitive of the noun possessio. It is an appositional (definitive) genitive explaining the content of uerbum, meaning 'the word "possession"'.
  2. §50.16.78.prin eo — Consists of the preposition in and the ablative masculine singular of the demonstrative pronoun is (eo). The pronoun eo serves as the antecedent of the relative pronoun qui, meaning 'in the case of a person who...'.
  3. §50.16.78.prlegasset — A syncopated form of legauisset, the third-person singular pluperfect active subjunctive of legare (to bequeath). The subjunctive is used in the relative clause qui... because it refers to a hypothetical or descriptive category of person ('one who had bequeathed his possessions') rather than a specific historical individual.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.78.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.78.pr

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