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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.6.1.pr-12.6.1.1

Recovery of Undue Payment Made by Mistake or in Bad Faith

Passage 1976 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text addresses the fundamental rule of the payment of what is not due (indebitum solutum), establishing that recovery is allowed if paid in ignorance, but barred if paid with the knowledge that nothing was owed.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo sexto ad edictum. ] §12.6.1.prNunc uidendum de indebito soluto.
[ULPIANUS, on the Edict, book 26.] Now we must consider the payment of what is not due.
§12.6.1.1Et quidem si quis indebitum ignorans soluit, per hanc actionem condicere potest: sed si sciens se non debere soluit, cessat repetitio.
And indeed, if anyone pays what is not due in ignorance, he can claim it back by this action; but if he pays knowing that he does not owe, the claim for recovery is barred.

Notes

  1. §12.6.1.pruidendum — The neuter singular nominative of the gerundive, used impersonally with the copula 'est' omitted, expressing necessity or obligation ('must be considered').
  2. §12.6.1.prde indebito soluto — An ablative phrase governed by the preposition de ('concerning'). It consists of the substantivized adjective indebitum ('what is not due') and soluto, the perfect passive participle of soluere ('to pay'), together referring to the legal concept of 'payment of what is not due'.
  3. §12.6.1.1sciens se non debere — An accusative with infinitive (ACI) construction functioning as the object of the present participle sciens ('knowing'). The accusative se is the reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject of the conditional clause.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.6.1.pr-12.6.1.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.6.1.pr-12.6.1.1

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