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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.5.2.pr-12.5.2.2

Recovery of Gifts with Immoral Motives and Bribery of Judges

Passage 1968 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian provides examples of recovery claims for things given to prevent crimes or to return deposited items or documents. He notes that while some record a recovery claim for bribing a judge in a good cause, the giver also commits a crime and loses the suit by imperial decree.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo sexto ad edictum. ] §12.5.2.prut puta dedi tibi ne sacrilegium facias, ne furtum, ne hominem occidas.
[ULPIAN, Twenty-Sixth Book on the Edict.]\n\nAs for instance, if I have given to you so that you do not commit sacrilege, nor theft, nor kill a human being.
in qua specie Iulianus scribit, si tibi dedero, ne hominem occidas, condici posse: §12.5.2.1Item si tibi dedero, ut rem mihi reddas depositam apud te uel ut instrumentum mihi redderes. §12.5.2.2Sed si dedi, ut secundum me in bona causa iudex pronuntiaret, est quidem relatum condictioni locum esse: sed hic quoque crimen contrahit (iudicem enim corrumpere uidetur) et non ita pridem imperator noster constituit litem eum perdere.
In which case Julian writes that if I have given to you so that you do not kill a human being, a recovery is possible:\n\nLikewise, if I have given to you so that you return to me a thing deposited with you, or so that you would return a document to me.\n\nBut if I have given so that a judge would decide in my favor in a good cause, it is indeed reported that there is room for a recovery; but here also he commits a crime (for he is deemed to corrupt the judge), and not long ago our Emperor ordained that he should lose his suit.

Notes

  1. §12.5.2.prcondici posse — The passive infinitive condici combined with posse forms an accusative-with-infinitive construction acting as the object of scribit. It is used impersonally to mean 'that recovery is possible'.
  2. §12.5.2.1Item si — The main clause/conclusion from the previous section (§12.5.2.pr, such as condici posse) is elliptical here. One must supply the context: 'Likewise, if I have given to you... (recovery is possible)'.
  3. §12.5.2.1reddas ... redderes — The present subjunctive reddas and the imperfect subjunctive redderes are coordinated under the same condition (dedero). Regarding the sequence of tenses, reddas corresponds to the future-perfect dedero viewed as a primary tense, while redderes views it as a historical tense.
  4. §12.5.2.2est quidem relatum condictioni locum esse — The accusative-and-infinitive clause condictioni locum esse (that there is room for recovery) functions as the subject clause of the impersonal passive est relatum. condictioni is a dative depending on locum esse.
  5. §12.5.2.2litem eum perdere — An accusative-with-infinitive construction acting as the object of constituit. The pronoun eum (accusative) is the subject of the infinitive perdere. The phrase litem perdere ('to lose the suit') is a legal idiom.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.5.2.pr-12.5.2.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.5.2.pr-12.5.2.2

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