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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.6.18.pr

Recovery of Advance Payments: Certain vs Uncertain Conditions

Passage 1993 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that payment made beforehand cannot be recovered if the debt is subject to a condition that is certain to occur, whereas it can be recovered if the condition is uncertain.

[IDEM libro quadragesimo septimo ad Sabinum. ] §12.6.18.prQuod si ea condicione debetur, quae omnimodo exstatura est, solutum repeti non potest, licet sub alia condicione, quae an impleatur incertum est, si ante soluatur, repeti possit.
[THE SAME, On Sabinus, Book 47.] But if a debt is owed under a condition which is bound to be fulfilled in any case, what has been paid cannot be recovered; although under another condition, of which it is uncertain whether it will be fulfilled, if payment is made beforehand, it can be recovered.

Notes

  1. §12.6.18.prquae omnimodo exstatura est — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quae is ea condicione. The active periphrastic future, consisting of the future participle exstatura and the copula est with omnimodo (in any case), refers to a future event that is certain to occur (such as 'death' in the preceding section). In Roman law, such an 'unconditional condition' is treated in effect as a time-limit (dies), meaning that payment made before its occurrence is valid and cannot be recovered as an undue payment (repetitio).
  2. §12.6.18.prquae an impleatur incertum est — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quae is alia condicione. The clause an impleatur (whether it will be fulfilled) is an indirect question acting as a complement to the adjective incertum (uncertain), using the present subjunctive passive impleatur. This refers to a true condition whose fulfillment is uncertain.
  3. §12.6.18.prlicet ... repeti possit — The conjunction licet expresses concession and takes the subjunctive (here, possit) to introduce a contrasting clause meaning 'although' or 'granted that'. It contrasts the main clause solutum repeti non potest (what has been paid cannot be recovered) with the case of a true condition, where payment made beforehand can be recovered (repeti possit).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.6.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.6.18.pr

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