The Exemption of a Child’s Educational Expenses from Collatio (Hotchpot) in European Legal Development

Abstract

This paper traces the history of the interpretation of a Digesta fragment (D. 10,2,50) in the
development of European private law. The specificity of the text is that from the Middle Ages
onwards, the provision was interpreted in a way that differed significantly from its original
purpose. Ulpian’s classical text was constantly misinterpreted from the Middle Ages to the 19th
century, presumably for reasons of legal policy, and given a meaning that privileged higher
education. This meant that the costs of education provided by the parents during the parents’
lifetime did not have to be included in the son’s share of the estate when dividing the parents’
estate, and such an allowance was also exempt from inclusion in the calculation of the
compulsory share of inharitance. The particular interpretation of the Ulypian fragment under
study may be a good example of the interplay between legal policy and the historical
interpretation of texts.