THE ENACTMENTS OF JUSTINIAN.
  
THE NOVELS.
~  CXIX  ~
AN ANTE-NUPTIAL DONATION SHALL BE CONSIDERED A SPECIAL CONTRACT, AND CONCERNING DIVERS OTHER MATTERS.


 
( S. P. Scott, The Civil Law, XVII, Cincinnati, 1932 ).
 
 
The Emperor Justinian to Peter, Most Glorious Prefect of the East.
CHAPTER I.
   
AN ANTE-NUPTIAL DONATION DOES NOT REQUIRE TO BE RECORDED.
  We order by the present law that a donation bestowed in consideration of marriage shall be considered as a special contract, and not classed with other donations, for the reason that an equal amount of dowry is given in exchange therefor. Hence an ante-nuptial donation shall be entirely operative, so far as the woman as well as the man is concerned, whether it has been inscribed upon the public records or not; whether it has been committed to writing in favor of the wife, by the husband or by anyone else; or whether a gift has been made in favor of the husband, provided the latter causes it to be included in the number of nuptial donations. We order that this rule shall be observed, no matter what the amount of the donation is, even though (as has already been stated) it may not have been recorded.
CHAPTER II.
   
A MINOR CAN MANUMIT SLAVES BY WILL.
  We also decree by this law that minors shall, from the time when they can dispose of their property by will, be permitted to liberate their slaves in this manner, without their being prevented from doing so on account of their age; and We hereby repeal the law which formerly forbade them to do this.
CHAPTER III.
   
NO CREDIT SHALL BE GIVEN TO A WRITTEN INSTRUMENT
IN WHICH ANOTHER INSTRUMENT IS MENTIONED, UNLESS THE LATTER IS PRODUCED.
  In addition to this, We order that if anyone should, in one document, make mention of another, this shall have no effect, unless the other document referred to is produced; or unless some other legal evidence is offered by which the amount of property stated is shown to be actually due, for this was also provided by the ancient laws.
CHAPTER IV.
   
CONCERNING APPEALS.
We also decree that when an appeal has been taken upon the last day when this can be done, each party, or only the one who has taken the appeal, must personally appear before the judge, and request him or his councillors or referendaries to examine the case; and if the judge should fail to receive the appeal during the time prescribed for that purpose, the parties to the action, or the one who took the appeal, shall not be prejudiced in any respect on account of this delay; but such appeals shall afterwards be heard and disposed of by a lawful decision.
CHAPTER V.
   
CONCERNING THE REVIEW OF DECISIONS RENDERED BY PRAETORIAN PREFECTS.
  We have thought that something under this head requires correction, for as Our laws set forth that when the Most Glorious Praetorian Prefects have rendered a decision, no appeal can be taken from it, hence we order that whenever a judgment of the Most Glorious Prefect, no matter to what district he may belong, is pronounced, and one of the parties litigant considers himself to be injured thereby, he shall be permitted, within ten days afterwards, to present a petition to the Most Glorious Prefects who rendered it, or to their councillors or referees; and when this has been done, the judgment cannot be executed by the party who obtained it, if he does not previously furnish good security for as large an amount as that for which the decision was rendered; in order that if, after the Praetorian Prefect has reviewed it, the formalities prescribed by law have been observed, and the decision set aside, the property in controversy, together with all lawful augmentations, may be restored to the person who loses the case. But where, during the ten days after rendition of the judgment, he who thinks that he has been injured by it does not file a petition, We order that execution shall take place without a surety being required; the right of review, however, being still reserved for the party who thinks that he has been injured.
CHAPTER VI.
   
WHERE A MINOR OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE WISHES TO DEMAND RESTITUTION AGAINST THE ACCEPTANCE OF AN ESTATE.
    We also decree that where minors desire to reject an estate which has descended to them, and which they have accepted, and all the creditors of said estate are present in the place where complete restitution is demanded; these creditors shall be called before the judge, and the minor must reject the estate in their presence. But where all or some of the creditors are absent, those minors who wish to reject it shall apply to the judge of the district where they reside, and he shall summon the creditors by means of ordinary citations; and if they do not appear within the term of three months, the said minors will be permitted to reject the estate without incurring any responsibility, and the judge before whom the application for complete restitution was made shall designate the place where the movable or immovable property constituting the estate shall be kept, and the amount of the same shall be stated in a public inventory entered upon the records.
CHAPTER VII.
   
CONCERNING PRESCRIPTIONS, OR, IN OTHER WORDS,
CONCERNING THE BAD FAITH OF A POSSESSOR WHO ALIENATES PROPERTY.
  Moreover, We decree that where anyone has possession of property in bad faith, and alienates it either by sale, donation, or in any other manner, and the person who thinks that the property belongs to him, having been informed of the alienation, does not, in conformity to law, within ten years if he is present, or within twenty if he is absent, bring suit against the purchaser, the donee, or the person to which said property has been transferred in any other way whatsoever, the possessor of said property shall hold it legally, that is to say, after the lapse of ten years when the parties are present, and after twenty when they are absent. But where the true owner of any of the property is not aware that it belongs to him, and that it has been alienated, he will only be excluded from asserting his right by the prescription of thirty years; and he who is in possession under such circumstances cannot allege that he holds the property in good faith, when he himself has received it from a fraudulent possessor.
CHAPTER VIII.
   
CONCERNING PERSONS WHO ARE ABSENT AND PRESENT
WHERE A DECENNIAL PRESCRIPTION IS INVOLVED.
  We have deemed it proper to decree, with reference to a prescription of ten years, that when anyone against whom such prescription can be pleaded with reference to the acquisition of property is present for some years and absent for others, there shall be added to the years when he was present the number necessary for the completion of those during which he was absent. We order that all the rules which We have prescribed with reference to temporary prescription shall not be applicable to past cases, but to future ones; and shall only be valid so far as those which may arise after the enactment of the present law are concerned.
CHAPTER IX.
   
A TESTATOR SHALL NOT BE COMPELLED TO WRITE THE NAMES OF HIS HEIRS
WITH HIS OWN HAND.
  We have stated previous to the enactment of this law that a testator shall be required to write the names of his heirs in his will with his own hand, or by those of witnesses. But We have ascertained that through the severity of this provision many wills have been rendered void, testators either not being able to conform to it, or perhaps being reluctant for the witnesses to know their wishes. We hereby order that testators who desire to do so can observe this rule when making their wills, but if they do not observe it, but follow the former custom, their wills shall be valid wherever anyone writes the name of his heir with his own hand, or through the agency of another; provided he complies in every respect with the other legal formalities required in testamentary execution.
CHAPTER X.
   
CONCERNING IMMOVABLE PROPERTY WHICH BELONGS TO RELIGIOUS PLACES.
  We order the law, by which We directed that property which has come from a holy church to Our House shall not be transferred to private persons, to be repealed, and We declare this to be applicable to such property as has already been lawfully added to Our House, as well as to what may hereafter be transferred to it.
CHAPTER XI.
   
CONCERNING THE FALCIDIAN LAW, WHICH DOES NOT APPLY TO PROPERTY
WHOSE ALIENATION IS PROHIBITED.
  Where anyone makes a will, and leaves immovable property to his family or to anyone else, as a legacy, specifically stating that said property shall never be alienated, but that it shall always remain in the hands of the heirs or successors of him to whom it was left, We decree that the Falcidian Law shall have no effect where a bequest of this kind is involved, for the reason that the testator himself prohibited its alienation. Moreover, We direct that these rules shall be observed in cases which have not yet been disposed of by judicial decree, amicable agreement, or in any other lawful manner.
EPILOGUE.
  Therefore Your Eminence will see that what We have decreed by the present law shall remain forever valid, and be brought to the attention of all Our subjects by means of edicts promulgated in this Royal City, and by notices despatched to all the Governors of provinces.
  Given at Constantinople, on the thirteenth of the Kalends of February, during the Consulate of Our Lord the Emperor Justinian, and the year of the Consulate of Basil.