Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. If my slave, while in flight, purchases property from some one who is not the owner, the Publician Action will lie in my favor, even though I may not have obtained possession, through him, of the property delivered.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Where an usufruct is bequeathed to a slave belonging to an estate before the estate is entered upon, the better opinion is that when it is entered upon, the usufruct vests in you, and is not terminated because of change of ownership, because it did not vest before you became the heir.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. There is a great deal of difference whether anyone is not informed regarding the case and acts of another, or whether he is ignorant of the law which affects himself. 1Cassius states that Sabinus holds that it should be understood that ignorance, in this instance, does not refer to a person of abandoned character, or to one who, through negligence, thinks himself secure.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Where a girl under twelve years of age is married, she will not be a lawful wife until she has reached that age while living with her husband.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. A minor should not be required to ask that a guardian be appointed for him, or to go in search of him.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. If I appoint you absolutely my heir to half of my estate, and appoint another heir to the other half under some condition, and I then appoint a substitute for you, Celsus says that if the condition is not complied with, the substitute will be the heir to that portion of the estate. 1But if I appoint you my heir unconditionally, and afterwards appoint you under some condition, the second appointment will not be valid, because the first one takes precedence of the other. 2Where, however, several appointments have been made for the same share of an estate under different conditions, and the first condition is fulfilled, the result will be the same that we stated above, where the appointment was made absolutely, and also under a condition.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. If anyone should bequeath a slave by his will, and afterwards order a substitute, whom he had appointed for his son, to liberate said slave, the latter will become free, just as if the bequest of the legacy was annulled; for so far as the legacy is concerned, what was last mentioned in these wills must be considered, as is done in the case of the same will, or where codicils have been confirmed by a will. 1Where, after a testator has executed his will, he afterwards makes one for his son in the presence of competent witnesses, this act will, nevertheless, be valid, and the will of the father will stand; but if the father should make a will for both himself and his son, and afterwards one only for himself, both the will and the substitution first made will be broken. Where, however, the father made the second will and appointed his heir, as follows: “If his son should die in his lifetime”, it can then be said that the first will is not broken, for the reason that the second, in which the son was passed over, is void.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Power is granted to children under the age of puberty to absolutely reject the estates of their fathers, but those who have arrived at puberty can only do so where they have not meddled with the affairs of the estate.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Where anyone rejects an estate or a legacy, he must be certain of his rights.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Labeo says that no one can act as heir during the lifetime of the person, the administration of whose estate is in question.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Where anyone who has been appointed an heir is prevented by another heir, who was appointed along with him and has already entered upon the estate, from examining the papers of the deceased, from which he may ascertain whether he ought to accept it or not, he is not held to have acted in the capacity of heir.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. If a father or a master should enter upon his share of an estate, he must order his son or his slave, who is his co-heir, to enter upon it also.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. If you receive money from a substitute in consideration of your relinquishing your claim to an estate, and he enters upon the same, it may be doubted whether an action should be granted to the legatees. I think that if the substitute should also relinquish his claim for the reason that the estate vests in him by law, and he obtains possession of it, both of you will be liable; and an action will be granted in favor of him to whom a legacy has been bequeathed, against whichever one of you he may elect to sue.

The Same, On Sabinus, Book III. Octavenus states that property in the hands of the enemy can be bequeathed, and the bequest will stand, under the law of postliminium.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. If the same property should be bequeathed to me and to yourself, and on the day when the legacy was due, I should become your heir, Labeo says that I can acquire the property either for the reason that it was left to me, or because I am your heir. Proculus says, that if I should wish to whole of it to belong to me on account of the legacy which was bequeathed to me, I must demand it on the ground of being heir to the legacy. 1Where anyone charges his heir to deliver to me, within three days after his death, certain slaves whom he had at Gades, by a will which he made at Rome just before he died, the legacy will be valid; and the shortness of the time provided will in no way prejudice the legatee. 2A rule of the Civil Law provides that, “We can bequeath a legacy to slaves belonging to those to whom we can also make a bequest.” 3In the matter of legacies, the last instruments drawn up are valid; because, where previously executed, they can be changed either with reference to the day or the condition, or they can be entirely annulled. Where a legacy left under one condition is taken away by another, the last provision, by which it is taken away, must be considered. Sometimes, however, not the last, but the former disposition of the property is valid, for if I should say: “What I have left herein to Titius I neither give nor bequeath to him,” what has been left to him by the will will not be valid; for it is held that the same clause by which legacies granted at a certain time are to be deferred has reference also to the provisions subsequently made. Therefore the desire of the testator establishes the validity of what he inserted in his will.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Where legacies are bequeathed to persons to whom a patron is obliged to pay them, the Prætor should regulate the condition so that the amounts received by the patron and the appointed heirs, in compliance with the condition prescribed by the will, shall be in proportion to the respective shares of the legatees. 1Where the following provision was included in a will, “If a son should not be born to Titius within the next five years, let my heir then pay ten aurei to Seia,” and Titius should die before that time, Seia will not be immediately entitled to the ten aurei, because the word “then” means the date of the expiration of the five years.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. A penalty is not imposed by a will upon an heir or legatee or upon anyone who profits in some manner by the last will of the testator, if he is ordered to erect a monument in accordance with the judgment of someone, and he who is to be consulted is not living, or cannot be present, or is unwilling to give his advice. 1Where an heir was directed to manumit certain slaves, and some of them died before the will was executed, Neratius gave it as his opinion that the heir had failed to comply with the condition, but he did not decide whether the latter was able to comply with the condition, or not. Servius, however, held that, where the following was written, “If my mother and my daughter should survive me,” and one of them died, the condition had not failed. The same rule is also stated by Labeo. Sabinus and Cassius think that where conditions considered impossible are inserted into a will they ought to be regarded as not having been written, and this opinion should be adopted.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Where there are several persons of different degrees of relationship entitled to prætorian possession, as long as it is uncertain whether one of them has the right to demand possession, or not, it has been settled that the time does not run against one of the last degree.

The Same, On Sabinus, Book III. Those provisions which are the least burdensome should be considered where freedom is granted by a will, and where there are several provisions of this kind, that which is the least burdensome is understood to be the one the most advantageous to the person manumitted. Where, however, freedom is granted by a trust, the last clause written must be taken into account.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Aristo says that a freeman who is serving me in good faith as a slave will undoubtedly acquire for me whatever he earns by his labor through the use of my property. But whatever anyone gives him, or whatever he obtains in transacting business, will belong to him. He says, however, that any estate or legacy which has been bequeathed will not be acquired by me through him, because it is not derived from my property, or from his labor; for he has performed no work to obtain the legacy, and it is, to a certain extent, an estate, because it is accepted by him. This was at one time doubted by Varius Lucullus. The better opinion, however, is that the estate is not acquired, even though the testator may have intended it to belong to me. But even if the supposed slave does not acquire it for me, still, if it was the evident intention of the testator that this was to be done, the estate should be delivered to me. Trebatius thinks that where a freeman is serving anyone in good faith as a slave, and enters upon an estate by order of the person whom he is serving, he himself will become the heir; for it makes no difference what a man intended to do, but what he did do. Labeo holds the contrary opinion, provided he was compelled to do this; but if he desired to do it, he will become the heir.

The Same, On Sabinus, Book III. In a stipulation such as the following, “If Lucius Titius does not come into Italy before the Kalends of May, do you promise to pay ten aurei?” it is our practice that suit cannot be brought before it is ascertained that Titius cannot come into Italy before that date, and that he has not come, either living or dead.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. As there are two kinds of the right of postliminium, one under which we return to our friends from the enemy, and the other by which we recover something; when a son under paternal control returns the double right of postliminium is united in him, for his father regains his authority over him, and he himself recovers all his rights. 1A husband does not recover his wife under the law of postliminium in the same way that a father does his son, but the marriage can be renewed by consent.

Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book III. Our law does not suffer anyone who is in civil life to die both testate and intestate, for there is a natural antagonism between the two terms.