Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.6.28.pr

Bar on Recovery of Voluntary Payment After Wrongful Acquittal

Passage 2004 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that if a judge wrongly acquits a defendant and the acquitted person subsequently pays of their own free will, they cannot claim recovery.

[IDEM libro trigensimo secundo ad edictum. ] §12.6.28.prIudex si male absoluit et absolutus sua sponte soluerit, repetere non potest.

[THE SAME, On the Edict, Book 32.] If a judge has wrongly acquitted a defendant, and the person acquitted has paid of his own free will, he cannot recover the payment.

Notes

12.6.28.prmale absoluit — The adverb male (wrongly) indicates a factual or legal error in the judge's decision. Although this unjust judgment of acquittal legally releases the defendant from the liability (res judicata), a natural obligation remains; therefore, if the defendant subsequently pays of their own accord (sua sponte soluerit), they cannot claim recovery as if it were a non-existent debt.
12.6.28.prsoluerit — In contrast to the perfect indicative absoluit (acquitted), soluerit (paid) is a future perfect (or perfect subjunctive). It indicates the chronological and conditional sequence where the voluntary payment occurs after the judge's erroneous acquittal is already established.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.6.28.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.6.28.pr

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