bantur: sed ex constitutionibus Divorum principum solemnitas hujusmodi verborum sublata est. Nostra autem constitutio, quam cum magnâ fecimus lucubratione, defunctorum voluntates validiores esse cupientes, et non verbis sed voluntatibus eorum faventes, disposuit, ut omnibus una sit natura, et quibuscunque verbis aliquid relictum sit, liceat legatariis id persequi, non solùm per actiones personales, sed etiam per in rem et per hypothecariam. Cujus constitutionis perpensum modum ex ipsius tenore perfectissimè accipere possibile est. were signified; but these fixed forms have been wholly taken away by the imperial ordinance of the later emperors, Constantinus, Constantius, and Constans. We also, desirous of enforcing the wills of deceased persons, and regarding their intentions more than their words, have, after great study, enacted that the nature of all legacies shall be the same; and legatees, by whatever words constituted, may sue for what is left them, not only by a personal, but by a real or hypothecary action. But the reader may perfectly comprehend the well weighed matter of this constitution, from the tenor of it. Collatio legatorum et fidei-commissorum. § III. Sed non usque ad eam constitutionem standum esse existimavimus: cum enim antiquitatem invenimus legata quidem strictè concludentem, fidei-commissis autem, quæ ex voluntate magis descendebant defunctorum, pinguiorem naturam indulgentem, necessarium esse duximus, omnia, legata fideicommissis exæquare, ut nulla sit inter ea differentia, sed, quod deest legatis, hoc repleatur ex naturâ fidei-commissorum: et, si quid amplius est in legatis, per hoc crescat fidei-commissorum natura. Sed, nè in primis legum cunabulis, permistim de his exponendo, studiosis adolescentibus quandam introducamus difficultatem, operæ pretium esse duximus, interim, separatim priùs de legatis et postea de fidei 3. We have judged it expedient that our constitution should not rest here; for, observing that the ancients confined legacies within strict rules, but were favourable to gifts in trust, it was thought necessary to make all legacies equal to gifts in trust, that no difference in effect should remain between them; so that whatever is deficient in the nature of legacies, may be supplied by the nature of trust, and whatever is abundant in the nature of legacies may become an accretion to the nature of trusts. But, that we may not raise difficulties, and perplex the minds of young persons at their entrance upon the study of the law, by explaining these things promiscuously, we have esteemed it worth our pains to treat separately, first of commissis tractare; ut, naturâ utriusque juris cognitâ, facilè possint permistionem eorum eruditi subtilioribus auribus accipere. legacies and then of trusts, that, the nature of both being known, the student, thus instructed, may more easily understand their relation and intermixture. De re legata. Et primum de re testatoris, hæredis, aliena, cujus non est commercium. § IV. Non solùm autem testatoris vel hæredis res, sed etiam aliena legari potest, ita ut hæres cogatur redimere eam et præstare; vel, si eam non potest redimere, æstimationem ejus dare. Sed, si talis sit res, cujus commercium non est, vel adipisci non potest, nec æstimatio ejus debetur; veluti si quis campum martium, vel basilicas, vel templa, vel quæ publico usui destinata sunt, legaverit: nam nullius momenti tale legatum est. Quod autem diximus, alienam rem posse legari, ita intelligendum est, si defunctus sciebat, alienam rem esse, non si ignorabat. Forsitàn enim, si scivisset alienam rem esse, non legasset; et ita Divus Pius rescripsit. Et verius est, ipsum, qui agit, id est, legatarium, probare oportere, scivisse alienam rem legare defunctum, non hæredem probare oportere, gnorasse alienam: quia semper necessitas probandi incumbit illi, qui agit. $ 4. A testator may not only bequeath his own property, or that of his heir, but also the property of others; and, if the thing bequeathed belong to another, the heir can be obliged either to purchase and deliver it, or to render the value of it, if it cannot be purchased. But, if the thing bequeathed be not in commerce, or cannot be purchased, the heir is not bound to pay the value to the legatee; as if a man should bequeath the Campus Martius, the palaces, the temples, or any of those things, which appertain to the public: for such legacies can be of no avail. But, in saying that a testator might bequeath the goods of another, we would be understood to mean, that this can be done only, if the deceased knew, that what he bequeathed belonged to another, and not, if he were ignorant of it; since, if he had known, he probably would not have left such a legacy: and to this purpose is the rescript of the emperor Antoninus. And it is incumbent upon the plaintiff or legatee to prove the deceased knew that what he left belonged to another; the heir is not obliged to prove, that the deceased did not know it; for the burthen of proof lies upon the complainant. De re pignora a. V. Sed et, si rem obligatam creditori, aliquis legaverit, necesse habet hæres eam luere. Et in hoc quoque casu idem placet, quod in re alienâ; ut ita demum luere necesse habeat hæres, si sciebat defunctus, rem obligatem esse : et ita Divi Severus et Antoninus rescripserunt. Si tamen defunctus voluerit legatarium luere, et hoc ex presserit, non debet hæres eam luere. 5. If a man bequeath that which he hath pledged to a creditor the heir is under a necessity of redeeming it: but in this, as in the former case, concerning the goods of another, the heir cannot be obliged to redeem, unless the deceased knew that the thing was pledged; and this the emperors Severus and Antoninus have declared by their rescript. But when it appears to have been the express will of the deceased, that the legatee should redeem the thing bequeathed, the heirought not to redeem it. De re aliena post testamentum a legatario acquisita. VI. Si res aliena legata fuerit, et ejus rei vivo testatore legatarius dominus factus fuerit, siquidèm ex causâ emptionis, ex testamento actione pretium consequi potest: si verò ex causâ lucrativà, veluti ex donatione, vel ex aliâ simili causâ, agere non potest: nam traditum est duas lucrativas causas in eundem hominem et eandem rem concurre non posse. Hac ratione, si ex duobus testamentis eadem res eidem debeatur, interest, utrùm rem, an æstimationem, ex testamento consecutus sit: nam, si rem habet agere non potest; quia habet eam ex causâ lucrativâ: si æstimationem; agere potest. § 6. If a thing bequeathed be the property of another, and the legatee become the proprietor of it in the life-time of the testator by purchase, he may recover the value, by an action under the will; but, if he obtained it as a gift, or by any lucrative title, no action will lie; for it isa maxim, that two lucrative causes can never concur in the same person and thing. And therefore, if the same specific thing be left by two testaments to the same person, the question will be, when the legatee sues under one of them, whether he hath obtained the thing itself, or the value of it, by virtue of the other? for, if he be already possessed of the thing itself, the suit is at an end, because he hath received it on a lucrative account; but if he hath already obtained the value of it only, he may still sue for the thing itself. De his, quæ non sunt in rerum natura. $ VII. Ea quoque res, quæ in rerum naturâ non est, si modò futura est, rectè legatur; veluti fructus, qui in illo fundo nati erunt, aut quod ex illâ ancillâ natum erit. $ 7. Things, which exist only in possibility, may be bequeathed; as the fruits, which shall grow on such a spot of ground: or the offspring, which shall be born of a particular slave. De eadem re duobus legata. S VIII. Si eadem res duobus legata sit, sive conjunctim, sive disjunctim, si ambo perveniant ad legatum, scinditur inter eos legatum: si alter dificiat, quia aut spreverit legatum, aut vivo testatore decesserit, vel alio quoquo modo defecerit, totum ad collegatarium pertinet. Conjunctim autem legatur, veluti si quis dicat, Titio et Seio hominem Stichum do, lego: disjunctim ita Titio hominem Stichum do, lego: Seio hominem Stichum do, lego. Sed et, si expresserit eundum hominem Stichum, æque disjunctim legatum intelligitur. 8. When the same specific legacy is left to two persons, either conjunctively or disjunctively, and both are willing to accept, it must be divided between them. But, should one of the legatees die in the lifetime of the testator, or dislike his legacy, or be by any means prevented from taking it, the whole vests in his co-legatee. A legacy thus worded, is in the conjunetive, I give and bequeath my slave Stichus to Titius and Seius: but if thus, in the disjunctive, I give and bequeath my slave Stichus to Titius: I give and bequeath my slave Stichus to Seius. Although the testator add, that he gives the same slave Stichus to Seius, yet the legacy would be understood in the disjunctive. Si legatarius proprietatem fundi alieni sibi legatis emerit et ususfructus ad eam pervenerit. IX. Si cui fundus alienus legatus sit, et emerit proprietatem deducto usufructu, et ususfructus ad eum pervenerit, et postea ex testamento agat, rectè eum agere et fundum petere Julianus ait; quia ususfructus in petitione servitutis locum obtinet sed officio judicis conti 9. If a man bequeath to any one the ground of another, and the legatee purchase the property without the usufruct, which afterwards accrues to him, it is said by Julianus, that he may sue under the testament, and demand the ground; because the usufruct is regarded as netur, ut deducto usufructu jubeat a service only. But it is the duty æstimationem præstari. of a judge, in this case, to order the price of the property to be paid, deducting the value of the usufruct. De re legatarii. X. Sed, si rem legatarii quis ei legaverit, inutile est legatum; quia, quod proprium est ipsius, amplius ejus fieri non potest: et licèt alienaverit eam, non debetur, nec ipsa res, nec æstimatio ejus. § 10. A man uselessly bequeaths to another, what already belongs to him; for what is already the property of a legatee, cannot become more so. And, although the legatee should, after the bequest, alien the thing bequeathed, neither the thing itself, nor the value of it, would become due to him. Si quis rem suam, quasi non suam, legaverit. XI. Si quis rem suam quasi alienam legaverit, valet legatum: nam plus valet quod in veritate est, quam quod in opinione. Sed et, si legatarii esse putavit, valere constat; quia exitum voluntas defuncti habere potest. $ 11. If a testator bequeath what is his own, as if it were the property of another, the bequest would be good; for truth is more prevalent than what is founded upon opinion only. But although the testator imagine, that what he bequeaths, belongs already to the legatee, yet, if it do not, it is certain, that such a legacy would also be valid; because the will of the deceased can thus take effect. De alienatione et oppignoratione rei legatæ. § XII. Si rem suam legaverit testator, posteaque eam alienaverit, Celsus putat, si non adimendi animo vendidit, nihilominùs deberi: idemque Divi Severus et Antoninus rescripserunt. lidem rescripserunt, eum, qui post testamentum factum prædia, quæ legata erant, pignori dedit, ademisse legatum non videri: et ideò legatarium cum hræede ejus agere posse, ut prædia 12. If a testator bequeath his own property, and afterwards alien, it is the opinion of Celsus, that the thing bequeathed will become due to the legatee, if the testator did not dispose of it, with an intention to oust him. The emperors Severus and Antoninus have published their rescript to this effect; and they have also signified by another rescript that a legacy afterwards pawned or |