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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.6.5.pr-11.6.5.2

Surveyor's Delay, Concurrence of Actions, and Scope

Passage 1801 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section regulates the liability of a surveyor who delays a report, the concurrence and residual claims of actions against the seller and the surveyor when false measurements are reported, and the praetorian extension of this action to other items such as buildings, grain, and wine.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo quarto ad edictum. ] §11.6.5.prSi mensor non falsum modum renuntiauerit, sed traxerit renuntiationem et ob hoc euenerit ut uenditor liberetur, qui ad signaturum se modum intra certum diem promisit, haec actio locum non habet: sed nec dari utilem debere Pomponius ait.
[ULPIAN, from the twenty-fourth book on the Edict.] If a surveyor has not reported a false measurement, but has delayed the report, and on this account it has happened that the seller—who promised to certify the measurement himself within a certain day—is released, this action does not lie; but Pomponius says that not even an equitable action ought to be granted.
erit ergo ad actionem de dolo decurrendum.
Therefore, recourse must be had to the action for fraud.
§11.6.5.1Si cum falsus modus renuntiatus esset, emptor cum uenditore ex empto egisset, agere poterit etiam cum mensore: sed si nihil eius interest, condemnari mensorem non oportet.
If, when a false measurement had been reported, the buyer had sued the seller on the purchase, he can also sue the surveyor; but if it is of no interest to him, the surveyor ought not to be condemned.
quod si non de toto modo qui deerat cum uenditore egerit, sed de minore, consequenter scribit Pomponius de residuo cum mensore agi posse.
But if he has sued the seller not for the whole of the missing measurement, but for a lesser amount, Pomponius consequently writes that a suit can be brought against the surveyor for the residue.
§11.6.5.2Hoc iudicium latius praetor porrexit: nam et si cuius alterius rei mensuram falsam renuntiauissse dicetur, haec actio competit.
The praetor extended this action more widely; for even if he is said to have reported a false measurement of any other thing, this action is available.
proinde si in aedificii mensura fefellit uel in frumenti uel in uini,
Hence, if he has erred in the measurement of a building, or of grain, or of wine...

Notes

  1. §11.6.5.prqui ad signaturum se modum intra certum diem promisit — The antecedent of this relative clause is not the subject of the main clause, but uenditor (the seller) inside the result clause (ut clause). ad signaturum se modum expresses purpose, meaning "for certifying the measure himself (se)." signaturum is the future active participle of signare, modifying the object modum.
  2. §11.6.5.1sed si nihil eius interest — The construction of the impersonal verb interest. The person who has an interest is expressed in the genitive (eius), and nihil functions as an adverbial accusative (or subject) denoting the degree of interest, meaning "if it is of no interest to him."
  3. §11.6.5.2proinde si in aedificii mensura fefellit uel in frumenti uel in uini, — This sentence is left incomplete after fefellit... (due to either an aposiopesis or a lacuna in the excerpt). The implied subject is "the surveyor (mensor)," and fefellit is the third-person singular perfect active of fallere (to deceive or make an error).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.6.5.pr-11.6.5.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.6.5.pr-11.6.5.2

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