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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.4.2.pr-7.4.2.2

Usufruct Bequeathed in Alternate Years and Status Change

Passage 1260 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discussion of the ownership of a usufruct bequeathed separately to two legatees in alternate years, the impact of a deminution of status, and the legal consequences if they attempt to exercise the right in the same year.

[PAPINIANUS libro septimo decimo quaestionum. ] §7.4.2.prSi duobus separatim alternis annis usus fructus relinquatur, continuis annis proprietas nuda est, cum, si legatarium unum substituas, cui alternis annis legatus sit usus fructus, plena sit apud heredem proprietas eo tempore, quo ius fruendi legatario non est.
[PAPINIANUS from the seventeenth book of questions.] If a usufruct is bequeathed to two persons separately in alternate years, the ownership is bare in successive years; whereas if you assume a single legatee to whom a usufruct has been bequeathed in alternate years, the ownership is full in the hands of the heir at that time when the legatee does not have the right of enjoying.
quod si ex duobus illis alter decedat, per uices temporum plena proprietas erit: neque enim adcrescere alteri quicquam potest, quoniam propria quisque tempora non concurrente altero fructus integri habuit.
But if one of those two should die, there will be full ownership in turns of time: for nothing can accrue to the other, since each had full enjoyment in his own times without the other concurring.
§7.4.2.1Si non mors, sed capitis deminutio intercesserit, quia plura legata sunt, illius anni tantum, si modo ius fruendi habuit, fructus amissus erit: quod et in uno legatario, qui fructum in singulos annos accepit, defendendum est, ut commemoratio temporum repetitionis potestatem habeat.
If not death, but a deminution of status has intervened, because there are multiple legacies, only the usufruct of that year, provided that he had the right of enjoying, will be lost: which must also be maintained in the case of a single legatee who received the usufruct for individual years, so that the mention of times may have the power of repetition.
§7.4.2.2Cum singulis fructus alternis annis legatur, si consentiant in eundem annum, impediuntur, quod non id actum videtur, ut concurrerent: multum etenim refert, duobus simul alternis annis legetur (quod sane ultra primum annum procedere non poterit, non magis quam si uni legatus ita fuisset) an singulis alternis annis: nam si concurrere uolent, aut impedient inuicem propter uoluntatem aut, si ea non refragabitur, singulorum annorum fructus uacabit.
When a usufruct is bequeathed to individual persons in alternate years, if they agree on the same year, they are prevented, because it does not seem to have been intended that they should concur. For it matters greatly whether a usufruct is bequeathed to two persons at the same time "in alternate years" (which indeed cannot proceed beyond the first year, no more than if it had been bequeathed to one person in this way) or to individual persons in alternate years. For if they wish to concur, they will either prevent each other because of the testator's intention, or, if that intention does not oppose, the usufruct of the individual years will be vacant.

Notes

  1. §7.4.2.prcum, si legatarium unum substituas... — The conjunction `cum` acts as an adversative ("whereas"), contrasting the main clause with the hypothetical situation in the `cum`-clause (assuming a single legatee). `substituas` is a present subjunctive second person singular, expressing a general assumption ("if you assume").
  2. §7.4.2.prnon concurrente altero — An ablative absolute construction ("without the other concurring"). It explains the ground why no accrual (jus adcrescendi) occurs to the survivor upon the death of one legatee, because each had full enjoyment in non-overlapping, separate periods.
  3. §7.4.2.1ut commemoratio temporum repetitionis potestatem habeat — The genitive `repetitionis` means "of repetition" or "of renewal." It indicates that the mention of times (`commemoratio temporum`) is interpreted to have the legal effect (`potestas`) of creating a series of repeated, independent legacies for each period rather than a single continuous one.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.4.2.pr-7.4.2.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.4.2.pr-7.4.2.2

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