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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.4.16.pr

Successive Bequests of Usufruct and Non-Accrual

Passage 1274 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains the effect of a conditionally bequeathed usufruct being bequeathed by the heir to a third party before the condition is met, and the non-occurrence of the right of accrual when that usufruct is later lost.

[IDEM libro quinto disputationum. ] §7.4.16.prSi sub condicione mihi legatus sit usus fructus medioque tempore sit penes heredem, potest heres usum fructum alii legare: quae res facit, ut, si condicio extiterit mei legati, usus fructus ab herede relictus finiatur.
[THE SAME from the fifth book of disputations.] If a usufruct is bequeathed to me under a condition and in the meantime remains in the hands of the heir, the heir can bequeath the usufruct to another; this results in the usufruct left by the heir being terminated if the condition of my bequest is fulfilled.
quod si ego usum fructum amisero, non reuertetur ad legatarium, cui ab herede pure legatus fuerat, quia ex diuersis testamentis ius coniunctionis non contingit.
But if I should lose the usufruct, it will not return to the legatee to whom it had been unconditionally bequeathed by the heir, because the right of accrual (ius coniunctionis) does not arise from different testaments.

Notes

  1. §7.4.16.prquae res facit, ut — The verb facio followed by an ut-clause (with subjunctive) expressing result ('this makes it so that...', 'this results in...'). The relative pronoun quae refers to the preceding clause as its antecedent.
  2. §7.4.16.prmei legati — The genitive mei, derived from the possessive/pronominal adjective meus, functions as an objective genitive (or a genitive of passive relation) with respect to the noun legatum, meaning 'the bequest made to me'.
  3. §7.4.16.prius coniunctionis — 'Right of accrual' (literally 'right of conjunction'). A legal principle whereby, if the same property is joint-bequeathed to multiple persons, the share of one accrues to the other if the former fails to take or loses it. Here, since the bequests derive from 'different testaments' (the original testator's and the heir's), no such relationship of conjunction exists, and thus the loss by one does not cause it to revert to the other.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.4.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.4.16.pr

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