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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.1.19.pr-12.1.19.1

Conditional Money Transfers and Dispositions by Wards

Passage 1874 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Distinguishes immediate obligations from conditional ones when transferring money (such as mortis causa gifts or performance-based payments), and examines the legal effects on wards who lend or pay money without their tutor's authorization once the money is consumed.

[IULIANUS libro decimo digestorum. ] §12.1.19.prNon omnis numeratio eum qui accepit obligat, sed quotiens id ipsum agitur, ut confestim obligaretur.
[JULIAN, Digest, Book 10] Not every counting out of money binds him who received it, but only as often as that very thing is intended, that he should be bound immediately.
nam et is, qui mortis causa pecuniam donat, numerat pecuniam, sed non aliter obligabit accipientem, quam si exstitisset casus, in quem obligatio collata fuisset, ueluti si donator conualuisset aut is qui accipiebat prior decessisset.
For indeed he who gives money as a gift in contemplation of death counts out the money, but he will not otherwise bind the recipient than if the event had occurred upon which the obligation had been made contingent, as for example if the donor had recovered or he who was receiving it had died first.
et cum pecunia daretur, ut aliquid fieret, quamdiu in pendenti esset, an id futurum esset, cessabit obligatio: cum uero certum esse coepisset futurum id non esse, obligabitur qui accepisset: ueluti si Titio decem dedero, ut Stichum intra calendas manumitteret, ante kalendas nullam actionem habebo, post kalendas ita demum agere potero, si manumissus non fuerit.
And when money is given so that something may be done, as long as it is in suspense whether that will happen, the obligation will be in abeyance; but when indeed it has begun to be certain that it will not happen, he who had received it will be bound, as for example if I shall have given ten to Titius so that he should manumit Stichus before the Kalends: before the Kalends I will have no action, but after the Kalends I will be able to bring an action only if he has not been manumitted.
§12.1.19.1Si pupillus sine tutoris auctoritate crediderit aut soluendi causa dederit, consumpta pecunia condictionem habet uel liberatur non alia ratione, quam quod facto eius intellegitur ad eum qui acceperit peruenisse: quapropter si eandem pecuniam is, qui in creditum uel in solutum acceperat, alii porro in creditum uel in solutum dederit, consumpta ea et ipse pupillo obligatur uel eum a se liberabit et eum cui dederit obligatum habebit uel se ab eo liberabit.
If a ward without the authority of his tutor has given a loan or has given money for the purpose of paying, once the money has been consumed, he has a personal action for recovery or is released from liability, for no other reason than that by his act it is understood to have reached him who received it. Wherefore, if he who had received it as a loan or in payment should further give the same money to another as a loan or in payment, once it has been consumed, he himself also is bound to the ward or will release him from himself, and he will hold him to whom he gave it bound to himself or will release himself from him.
nam omnino qui alienam pecuniam credendi causa dat, consumpta ea habet obligatum eum qui acceperit: item qui in solutum dederit, liberabitur ab eo qui acceperit.
For in all cases, he who gives another's money for the purpose of lending, once it has been consumed, holds him who received it bound to himself; likewise, he who shall have given it in payment will be released from him who received it.

Notes

  1. §12.1.19.prsed non aliter obligabit accipientem, quam si exstitisset casus, in quem obligatio collata fuisset — A double negative construction utilizing "non aliter... quam si" ("not otherwise... than if"). "obligatio collata fuisset" means "the obligation had been made contingent/referred." In the context of a mortis causa gift, it refers to how the obligation to return the money is triggered only when specific contingencies (such as the donor's recovery or the donee's prior death) occur.
  2. §12.1.19.1non alia ratione, quam quod facto eius intellegitur ad eum qui acceperit peruenisse — Explains the mechanism by which a ward's act, though invalid due to the lack of a tutor's authority, is legally recognized ("intellegitur") once the money has been "consumed" (consumpta), whereby ownership of the coins effectively passes to the recipient ("reached him," peruenisse).
  3. §12.1.19.1consumpta ea et ipse pupillo obligatur uel eum a se liberabit et eum cui dederit obligatum habebit uel se ab eo liberabit — A highly compressed syntax presenting four legal consequences when a person who received money from a ward disposes of it to a third party ("alii porro dederit"). The first two options correspond to the relationship with the ward (he is bound to the ward if he received as a loan, or releases the ward if he received as payment); the latter two correspond to the relationship with the third party (he holds the third party bound if he lent it, or releases himself if he paid it).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.1.19.pr-12.1.19.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.1.19.pr-12.1.19.1

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