Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.2.10.pr

Exceptional Accrual of Usufruct to a Co-Legatee

Passage 1255 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment discusses an exceptional legal rule regarding the accrual of usufruct, where a lost usufruct accrues to a co-legatee who has also lost their share, rather than reverting to the owner.

[ULPIANUS libro septimo decimo ad edictum. ] §7.2.10.prInterdum pars usus fructus et non habenti partem suam, sed amittenti adcrescit: nam si usus fructus duobus fuerit legatus et alter lite contestata amiserit usum fructum, mox et collegatarius, qui litem contestatus non erat, usum fructum amisit, partem dimidiam dumtaxat, quam amisit qui litem contestatus est aduersus eum qui se liti optulit, a possessore consequitur: pars enim collegatarii ipsi adcrescit, non domino proprietatis: usus fructus enim personae adcrescit et si fuerit amissus.
[ULPIANUS from the seventeenth book on the Edict.] Sometimes a part of a usufruct accrues not to one who holds his own part, but to one who loses it. For if a usufruct has been bequeathed to two persons, and one of them, after joinder of issue, has lost the usufruct, and soon afterwards the co-legatee, who had not joined issue, also lost the usufruct, the one who joined issue recovers from the possessor only the half part which he lost against the one who offered himself to the suit; for the part of the co-legatee accrues to him, not to the owner of the property; for a usufruct accrues to the person, even if it has been lost.

Notes

  1. §7.2.10.prnon habenti partem suam, sed amittenti — Dative present participles serving as indirect objects of the verb `adcrescit`. Normally, accrual occurs to the co-legatee who still holds their share, but here it describes an exceptional situation where the accrual goes to the one who has already lost their own share (`amittenti`).
  2. §7.2.10.prqui litem contestatus est — The subject of the verb `consequitur`, with the antecedent of the relative pronoun `qui` being omitted (i.e., `is qui...`). It refers to the co-legatee who had joined issue (lit. contested the suit).
  3. §7.2.10.pret si fuerit amissus — `et si` introduces a concessive clause meaning "even if". `fuerit amissus` is the perfect passive of `amittere`. It indicates that even though the usufruct has been lost (by the co-legatee), it still accrues to the other co-legatee who also lost theirs, rather than reverting to the owner.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.2.10.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.2.10.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.