Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.2.8.pr

Accrual of Usufruct Bequeathed to a Mother and Her Children

Passage 1253 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the accrual of usufruct when it is bequeathed to a woman and her children, referencing the views of Julian and Pomponius regarding cases involving sole child heirs or mixed heirs.

[ULPIANUS libro septimo decimo ad Sabinum. ] §7.2.8.prSi mulieri cum liberis suis usus fructus legetur, amissis liberis ea usum fructum habet: sed et matre mortua liberi eius nihilo minus usum fructum habent iure adcrescendi.
[ULPIANUS from the seventeenth book on Sabinus.] If a usufruct is bequeathed to a woman together with her children, she has the usufruct even if the children are lost; but also when the mother dies, her children nevertheless have the usufruct by the right of accruer.
nam et Iulianus libro trigensimo digestorum ait idem intellegendum in eo, qui solos liberos heredes scripserit, licet non ut legatarios eos nominauerit, sed ut ostenderet magis uelle se matrem ita frui, ut liberos secum habeat fruentes.
For Julian also says in the thirtieth book of his Digests that the same must be understood in the case of a testator who has appointed only his children as heirs, even though he did not name them as legatees, but rather to show that he wished the mother to enjoy it in such a way as to have the children enjoying it with her.
sed et Pomponius quaerit: quid si mixti fuerint liberi et extranei heredes? et ait filios legatarios esse intellegendos et per contrarium, si uoluit eos liberos simul cum matre frui, debere dici matrem legatariam esse intellegendam et per omnia similem esse et in hoc casu iuris euentum.
But Pomponius also asks: what if the heirs were a mixture of children and outsiders? And he says that the sons must be understood to be legatees, and conversely, if he wished those children to enjoy it together with their mother, it must be said that the mother must be understood to be the legatee, and that in this case also the legal outcome is similar in all respects.

Notes

  1. §7.2.8.priure adcrescendi — Refers to the "right of accruer" (ius adcrescendi), a legal principle where, if one of the co-legatees fails to take, their share accrues to the remaining co-legatees. Here, it is the basis for the children continuing to enjoy the entire usufruct after the mother's death.
  2. §7.2.8.prin eo, qui — Since the relative pronoun qui is masculine singular nominative, the antecedent eo refers to a person (the testator, i.e., "in the case of him [the testator], who...") rather than an abstract situation.
  3. §7.2.8.prfilios legatarios esse intellegendos — When there is a mixture of children and outsiders among the heirs, treating the children solely as heirs might obstruct the intention of joint enjoyment between the mother and the children due to the outsiders' presence. Therefore, they should be constructively understood as "legatees" (legatarii) of the usufruct.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.2.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.2.8.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.