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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.88.pr

Monetary Value of an Estate and Ownership of Objects

Passage 8902 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Celsus argues that the monetary value of an estate is equivalent to what can be realized from its assets, explaining the distinction between possessing equivalent value and actually owning specific physical objects or legacies.

[CELSUS libro octauo decimo digestorum. ] §50.16.88.prPropemodum tantum quisque pecuniae relinquit, quantum ex bonis eius refici potest: sic dicimus centies aureorum habere, qui tantum in praediis ceterisque similibus rebus habeat.
[CELSUS, Digests, book 18.] Almost everyone leaves behind just so much money as can be recovered from his estate: thus we say that a person has ten million aurei, who possesses that amount in landed estates and other similar things.
non idem est in fundo alieno legato, quamquam is hereditaria pecunia parari potest.
It is not the same in the case of a legacy of another's land, although it can be purchased with money from the inheritance.
neque quisquam eum, qui pecuniam numeratam habet, habere dicit quidquid ex ea parari potest.
Nor does anyone say that he who has cash possesses whatever can be purchased with it.

Notes

  1. §50.16.88.prrefici — The present passive infinitive of the verb reficere (to restore, recover, or replenish). Here, it is used in a financial context to mean "to be recovered" or "realized" by converting assets (bona) into cash.
  2. §50.16.88.prcenties aureorum habere — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction governed by dicimus, where the subject accusative eum is omitted and acts as the antecedent of the relative clause qui...habeat. The adverbial numeral centies (one hundred times, implying one hundred times one hundred thousand, i.e., ten million) functions substantively and governs the genitive aureorum to mean "ten million aurei."
  3. §50.16.88.prin fundo alieno legato — A prepositional phrase consisting of in with the ablative. legato is the perfect passive participle modifying fundo alieno. It introduces a specific legal scenario: "in the case of a legacy of another's land."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.88.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.88.pr

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