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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.188.pr-50.17.188.1

Invalidity of Contradictory Wills and Acts Against Nature

Passage 9248 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage presents two legal maxims: contradictory provisions in a will are both void, and things forbidden by the nature of things cannot be validated by any law.

[IDEM libro septimo decimo digestorum. ] §50.17.188.prUbi pugnantia inter se in testamento iuberentur, neutrum ratum est.
[THE SAME, in the seventeenth book of the Digests.] Where contradictory provisions are ordered in a will, neither is valid.
§50.17.188.1Quae rerum natura prohibentur, nulla lege confirmata sunt.
Things which are forbidden by the nature of things are confirmed by no law.

Notes

  1. §50.17.188.priuberentur — Imperfect subjunctive. It is used in the ubi clause to express a generalized hypothetical condition ('if they should be ordered'), which serves as the premise for the general truth stated in the main clause ratum est (present indicative).
  2. §50.17.188.1rerum natura — A combination of rerum (genitive plural of res) and the ablative natura. It functions as an ablative of agent, cause, or means with the passive verb prohibentur, meaning 'by the nature of things.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.188.pr-50.17.188.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.188.pr-50.17.188.1

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