Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §10.4.15.pr

Digging up Treasure on Another's Land and Legal Remedies

Passage 1741 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius discusses the right to dig up treasure buried in another's land, explaining the conditions under which an interdict or action may be granted against a landowner who obstructs it, provided that the digger swears to good faith and offers security for potential damage.

[IDEM libro octauo decimo ad Sabinum. ] §10.4.15.prThensaurus meus in tuo fundo est nec eum pateris me effodere: cum eum loco non moueris, furti quidem aut ad exhibendum eo nomine agere recte non posse me Labeo ait, quia neque possideres eum neque dolo feceris quo minus possideres, utpote cum fieri possit, ut nescias eum thensaurum in tuo fundo esse.
[THE SAME, from the eighteenth book on Sabinus.] My treasure is in your land, and you do not allow me to dig it up: since you have not moved it from its place, Labeo says that I cannot rightly sue on that account either for theft or for production, because you neither possess it nor have acted with malicious intent to avoid possessing it, inasmuch as it is possible that you do not know that the treasure is in your land.
non esse autem iniquum iuranti mihi non calumniae causa id postulare uel interdictum uel iudicium ita dari, ut, si per me non stetit, quo minus damni infecti tibi operis nomine caueatur, ne uim facias mihi, quo minus eum thensaurum effodiam tollam exportem.
He says, however, that it is not unfair that, to me who swears that I am not demanding this for the sake of false accusation, either an interdict or an action be granted in such a manner that, if it is not through my fault that security for damage not yet done is not given to you on account of the work, you shall not use force against me to prevent me from digging up, taking away, and carrying off that treasure.
quod si etiam furtiuus iste thensaurus est, etiam furti agi potest.
But if that treasure is also stolen, an action for theft can also be brought.

Notes

  1. 10.4.15.prnon esse autem iniquum — This is an accusative with infinitive clause continuing from the governing verb Labeo ait in the preceding sentence, where the accusative subject is uel interdictum uel iudicium ... dari and the predicate is non esse iniquum.
  2. 10.4.15.priuranti mihi non calumniae causa id postulare — iuranti mihi is a dative present participle, acting as a dative of advantage for dari or dependent on iniquum. The participle iuranti takes the accusative with infinitive clause non calumniae causa id postulare ("that I am not demanding it for the sake of false accusation") as its object.
  3. 10.4.15.prsi per me non stetit, quo minus — An idiomatic construction per aliquem stat, quo minus... (it is due to someone that ... is prevented) in the perfect tense and negative. It means "if it has not been through my fault that ... is prevented" (i.e., if I am ready to provide the security).
  4. 10.4.15.prdamni infecti tibi operis nomine caueatur — damni infecti is a genitive dependent on caueatur (impersonal passive, "security is given"). It refers to the "security against damage not yet done" (cautio damni infecti) in Roman law. operis nomine (on account of the work) refers to potential damage caused by digging up the treasure on the other's land.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §10.4.15.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:10.4.15.pr

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