Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §10.4.19.pr

Standing to Sue for Production and Demanding Account Books

Passage 1745 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author outlines who can bring an action for production and relates Alfenus's advice that the civil law should not be interpreted literalistically or abused, citing the example of a student demanding the production of books as an absurd consequence.

[PAULUS libro quarto epitomarum Alfeni. ] §10.4.19.prAd exhibendum possunt agere omnes quorum interest.
[PAULUS, from the fourth book of the Epitomes of Alfenus.] All those who have an interest can bring an action for production.
sed quidam consuluit, an possit efficere haec actio, ut rationes aduersarii sibi exhiberentur, quas exhiberi magni eius interesset.
But someone asked for advice as to whether this action could bring about the production of his adversary's accounts to him, when it was of great interest to him that they should be produced.
respondit non oportere ius ciuile calumniari neque uerba captari, sed qua mente quid diceretur, animaduertere conuenire.
He replied that the civil law ought not to be caviled at, nor should its words be caught at, but that it was proper to consider with what intention anything was said.
nam illa ratione etiam studiosum alicuius doctrinae posse dicere sua interesse illos aut illos libros sibi exhiberi, quia, si essent exhibiti, cum eos legisset, doctior et melior futurus esset.
For by that reasoning even a student of some branch of learning could say that it was of interest to him for this or that book to be produced to him, on the ground that, if they were produced, once he had read them, he would become more learned and better.

Notes

  1. §10.4.19.printerest — Syntax of the impersonal verb interest ('it is of interest', 'it matters'). The person to whom it is of interest is expressed by the genitive (quorum, eius), but in the first, second, and reflexive third person, the feminine ablative singular of the possessive adjective is used (mea, tua, sua). Here we see both the genitive (quorum, eius) and the possessive adjective (sua, referring back to the subject 'studiosum') used. 'magni' is a genitive of value/importance showing the degree of interest.
  2. §10.4.19.prrationes — Here, 'rationes' refers to 'accounts' or 'account books.' The action for production (actio ad exhibendum) is fundamentally designed to compel the production of specific physical objects (movable property) in order to prepare for a claim of ownership or other rights. This passage deals with the question of whether it could be used to demand the production of information, such as an adversary's records, to which Alfenus responds negatively.
  3. §10.4.19.prsi essent exhibiti — Conditional clause in indirect discourse. In direct speech, this would be a future conditional: 'if they are produced, when I have read them, I shall be more learned' (si exhibiti erunt, cum legero, doctior ero). Dependent on a past main verb (respondit) leading into indirect discourse (posse dicere), the tenses shift to the pluperfect subjunctive (essent exhibiti, legisset) and the imperfect subjunctive of the future active periphrastic (futurus esset).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §10.4.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:10.4.19.pr

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