[IDEM libro tertio epistularum. ] §7.1.54.prSub condicione usus fructus fundi a te herede Titio legatus est: tu fundum mihi uendidisti et tradidisti detracto usu fructu: quaero, si non extiterit condicio, aut extiterit et interiit usus fructus, ad quem pertineat.
[THE SAME, in the third book of Epistles.] A usufruct of a tract of land was bequeathed under a condition by you, the heir, to Titius. You sold and delivered the land to me, deducting the usufruct. I ask, if the condition is not fulfilled, or if it is fulfilled and the usufruct is extinguished, to whom does it belong?
respondit: intellego te de usu fructu quaerere qui legatus est: itaque si condicio eius legati extiterit, dubium non est, quin ad legatarium is usus fructus pertineat et si aliquo casu ab eo amissus fuerit, ad proprietatem fundi reuertatur: quod si condicio non extiterit, usus fructus ad heredem pertinebit, ita ut in eius persona omnia eadem seruentur, quae ad amittendum usufructum pertinent et seruari solent.
He replied: I understand that you are asking about the usufruct which was bequeathed. Therefore, if the condition of that legacy is fulfilled, there is no doubt that this usufruct belongs to the legatee, and if by any chance it should be lost by him, it returns to the ownership of the land. But if the condition is not fulfilled, the usufruct will belong to the heir, in such a way that in his person all the same rules are observed which pertain to the losing of a usufruct and are customarily observed.
ceterum in eiusmodi uenditione spectandum id erit, quod inter ementem uendentemque conuenit, ut si apparuerit legati causa eum usum fructum exceptum esse, etiamsi condicio non extiterit, restitui a uenditore emptori debeat.
For the rest, in a sale of this kind, regard must be had to what was agreed between the buyer and the seller, so that if it appears that the usufruct was excepted for the sake of the legacy, even if the condition is not fulfilled, it ought to be restored by the seller to the buyer.