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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.1.29.pr

Master's Liability for Debts Incurred by a Slave Manager

Passage 1884 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus reports Julian's view that if a master appoints a slave as a business manager, a condictio can be brought against the master as if the contract were made by his order.

[PAULUS libro quarto ad Plautium. ] §12.1.29.prSi institorem seruum dominus habuerit, posse dici Iulianus ait etiam condici ei posse, quasi iussu eius contrahatur, a quo praepositus sit.
[PAULUS from the fourth book on Plautius.] If a master has a slave as a business manager, Julian says it can be maintained that an action can also be brought against him, as if the contract were entered into by the order of him by whom he was appointed.

Notes

  1. §12.1.29.prposse dici ... condici ei posse — This is a nested accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) structure where the main verb 'Iulianus ait' (Julian says) takes 'posse dici' (it can be said) as its object, which in turn takes another A.C.I. 'condici ei posse' (that a condictio can be brought against him) as its subject.
  2. §12.1.29.prei — The dative pronoun 'ei', the genitive 'eius', and the relative pronoun 'quo' all refer to the 'dominus' (master). Since a slave ('seruus') cannot be a defendant to a lawsuit under Roman law, the person against whom the 'condictio' is brought ('ei') must be the master.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.1.29.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.1.29.pr

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