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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.8.15.pr-7.8.15.1

User's Right to Provisions and Prohibition of Interference

Passage 1328 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage defines the user's right to take provisions up to a year's worth and establishes that both the user and the owner or heir must not interfere with each other's lawful use.

[PAULUS libro tertio ad Sabinum. ] §7.8.15.prFundi usu legato licebit usuario et ex penu quod in annum dumtaxat sufficiat capere, licet mediocris praedii eo modo fructus consumantur: quia et domo et seruo ita uteretur, ut nihil alii fructuum nomine superesset.
[PAULUS libro tertio ad Sabinum.] If the use of a tract of land is bequeathed, the user will be permitted to take even from the provisions what is sufficient for at most a year, although the fruits of a modest estate may be consumed in that manner; because he would use both a house and a slave in such a way that nothing would be left for another under the name of fruits.
§7.8.15.1Sicuti is, cui usus fundi legatus est, quo minus dominus agri colendi causa ibi uersetur, prohibere non potest (alioquin et frui dominum prohibebit), ita nec heres quicquam facere debet, quo minus is cui usus legatus est utatur, ut bonus pater familias uti debet.
Just as he to whom the use of a tract of land is bequeathed cannot prevent the owner from being present there for the purpose of cultivating the land (otherwise he will also prevent the owner from enjoying the fruits), so also the heir ought not to do anything to prevent him to whom the use is bequeathed from using it as a good head of a household ought to use it.

Notes

  1. §7.8.15.prusu legato — An ablative absolute construction consisting of usu and legato (perfect passive participle of legare in the masculine ablative singular), serving as a conditional clause meaning 'when the use is bequeathed'.
  2. §7.8.15.prquod in annum dumtaxat sufficiat — A relative clause with its antecedent (such as id) omitted, using the subjunctive mood (sufficiat) to express restriction or result. The adverb dumtaxat means 'at most' or 'only'.
  3. §7.8.15.prlicet ... consumantur — The word licet functions as a concessive conjunction meaning 'although' or 'even if', taking the subjunctive mood in the present passive (consumantur).
  4. §7.8.15.1quo minus ... uersetur, prohibere non potest — The verb prohibere (to prevent) introduces the prevented action using quo minus followed by the subjunctive (uersetur). Here it means 'cannot prevent the owner (dominus) from being present there'.
  5. §7.8.15.1ut bonus pater familias uti debet — The phrase bonus pater familias (a good head of a household) is a standard Roman legal expression representing the objective standard of care. ut functions here as 'as' or 'in the manner that'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.8.15.pr-7.8.15.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.8.15.pr-7.8.15.1

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