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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.6.2.pr-11.6.2.1

Surveyor's Liability for Malice of a Substituted Third Party

Passage 1798 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus supplements the previous rule by mentioning reports made by letter, and states that if a surveyor delegates the work to a third party who acts in bad faith, the original surveyor is held liable due to their negligent reliance on an unfit person.

[PAULUS libro uicensimo quinto ad edictum. ] §11.6.2.pruel per litteras.
[PAULUS, from the twenty-fifth book on the Edict.] or by letter.
§11.6.2.1Sed si ego tibi, cum esses mensor, mandauerim, ut mensuram agri ageres et tu id Titio delegaueris et ille dolo malo quid in ea re fecerit, tu teneberis, quia dolo malo uersatus es, qui tali homini credidisti.
But if, when you were a surveyor, I commissioned you to carry out the measurement of land, and you delegated this to Titius, and he did something in that matter with bad faith, you will be held liable, because you acted with bad faith in trusting such a person.

Notes

  1. §11.6.2.pruel per litteras — An elliptical phrase continuing logically from the end of the previous fragment (D. 11.6.1.2: qui per alium renuntiauit). It means "or [he who made the report] by letter [is also to be understood as having made the report]." A brief addition by Paulus to Ulpian's text.
  2. §11.6.2.1qui tali homini credidisti — The clause introduced by the relative pronoun qui explains the ground for attributing liability to the principal surveyor (dolo malo uersatus es). It shows the legal principle that delegating a task to an unsuitable third party and trusting them, even without committing direct fraud oneself, is equated with "bad faith" (dolus malus) for the purposes of this action.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.6.2.pr-11.6.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.6.2.pr-11.6.2.1

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