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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.1.56.pr

Usufruct of a Municipality and Its 100-Year Limit

Passage 1227 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the question of whether a usufruct should be granted to a municipality, it is held that the action should be allowed, but to prevent ownership from becoming permanently useless, the duration of the protection is limited to one hundred years, representing the limit of a long-lived person's life.

[GAIUS libro septimo decimo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §7.1.56.prAn usus fructus nomine actio municipibus dari debeat, quaesitum est: periculum enim esse uidebatur, ne perpetuus fieret, quia neque morte nec facile capitis deminutione periturus est, qua ratione proprietas inutilis esset futura semper abscedente usu fructu.
[GAIUS in the seventeenth book on the provincial edict.] The question was raised whether an action should be granted to the members of a municipality on the account of a usufruct: for there seemed to be a danger that it might become perpetual, because it would not perish by death, nor easily by a loss of status, by which reasoning the ownership would become useless, with the usufruct being permanently separated.
sed tamen placuit dandam esse actionem.
But nevertheless, it was held that the action should be granted.
unde sequens dubitatio est, quousque tuendi essent in eo usu fructu municipes: et placuit centum annos tuendos esse municipes, quia is finis uitae longaeui hominis est.
Hence arises the subsequent doubt, as to how long the members of the municipality should be protected in that usufruct: and it was held that the members of the municipality should be protected for one hundred years, because that is the limit of the life of a long-lived man.

Notes

  1. §7.1.56.prpericulum... ne perpetuus fieret — The clause ne perpetuus fieret with the subjunctive (imperfect fieret) is introduced by the noun of fear periculum, meaning "danger lest it should become perpetual" or "danger that it might become perpetual."
  2. §7.1.56.prproprietas inutilis esset futura — Future active periphrastic conjugation consisting of the future active participle futura and the imperfect subjunctive esset. Within the clause introduced by qua ratione, it represents a prospective outcome or future state relative to the past time of the main narrative.
  3. §7.1.56.prabscedente usu fructu — Ablative absolute construction consisting of the present participle abscedente and the noun usu fructu (ablative of usus fructus), expressing an attendant circumstance: "with the usufruct being separated."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.1.56.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.1.56.pr

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