- Source
- Digesta Iustiniani Augusti. Mommsen, Theodor & Krueger, Paul, editors. Berlin: Weidmann, 1870.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:6.1.37.pr
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
This section discusses whether an exception (exceptio doli) is available to a builder who erected a structure on another's land after discovering the true ownership. Iulianus argues that while the exception should not be granted, the builder should be allowed to take away the materials if it causes no loss to the landowner.
[ULPIANUS libro septimo decimo ad edictum.]
[ULPIANUS, in the seventeenth book on the Edict.]
Iulianus libro octauo digestorum scribit: si in aliena area aedificassem, cuius bonae fidei quidem emptor fui,1 uerum eo tempore aedificaui, quo iam sciebam alienam, uideamus, an nihil mihi exceptio prosit: nisi forte quis dicat prodesse de damno sollicito.2 puto autem huic exceptionem non prodesse: nec enim debuit iam alienam certus3 aedificium ponere: sed hoc ei concedendum est, ut sine dispendio domini areae tollat aedificium quod posuit.
Iulianus writes in the eighth book of his Digest: if I had built on another’s ground, of which I had indeed been a bona fide purchaser, but built at that time when I already knew it belonged to another, let us see whether the exception is of no benefit to me: unless, perhaps, someone should say that it benefits one who is anxious about avoiding loss. But I think that the exception does not benefit this person; for he ought not to have erected a building when he was certain that it was already another’s. Yet, this should be granted to him, that he may take away the building which he has erected without causing any loss to the owner of the ground.
- 6.1.37.prcuius bonae fidei quidem emptor fui
The relative pronoun cuius has the feminine singular area as its antecedent. bonae fidei is a genitive of quality (genitivus qualitatis) modifying emptor, meaning 'a bona fide purchaser'.
- 6.1.37.prde damno sollicito
Dative case. Refers to the legal concept of 'one who is anxious to avoid loss' (de damno evitando/sollicito), as opposed to 'one who seeks to make a profit' (de lucro captando), indicating a person who is merely trying to prevent their own loss.
- 6.1.37.pralienam certus
The adjective certus is in the nominative case agreeing with the subject (implied in aedificassem), taking an accusative-with-infinitive construction with an omitted infinitive (alienam [aream esse]) to express the content of his certainty: 'being certain that it was another's'.