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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.2.31.pr

Servitude of Light after Demolition and Analogous Action

Passage 1399 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

If an heir charged by a will to respect a neighbor's light servitude demolishes the building, an analogous action (utilis actio) should be granted to the legatee to prevent the heir from rebuilding it higher than before.

[IDEM libro quadragensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §8.2.31.prSi testamento damnatus heres ne officeret uicini luminibus seruitutemque praestaret, deposuit aedificium, concedenda erit legatario utilis actio, qua prohibeatur heres, si postea extollere supra priorem modum aedificium conabitur.
[THE SAME, in the forty-eighth book on the Edict.] If an heir, who has been charged by a will not to obstruct the lights of a neighbor and to provide the servitude, has pulled down the building, an analogous action should be granted to the legatee, by which the heir may be prevented if he subsequently attempts to raise the building above its former height.

Notes

  1. §8.2.31.prtestamento damnatus — Meaning "charged by a will". It derives from the Roman legal formula of legatum per damnationem (legacy by condemnation), where the testator imposes a specific active or passive obligation on the heir.
  2. §8.2.31.prutilis actio — "analogous action" (utilis actio). An action granted by the praetor by extending a civil law remedy to a similar case that does not strictly meet the original civil law requirements. Here, although the building was demolished and the servitude physically suspended, it is granted to protect the legatee against future violations when the building is reconstructed.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.2.31.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.2.31.pr

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