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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.6.47.pr

Recovery and Recourse for Payment by Surety without Debt

Passage 2023 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Celsus discusses the legal relationships arising when a surety pays a creditor when no debt exists, distinguishing between payments made in the debtor's name and those in the surety's own name, and clarifying the distribution of the right of recovery and the right of recourse.

[CELSUS libro sexto digestorum. ] §12.6.47.prIndebitam pecuniam per errorem promisisti: eam qui pro te fideiusserat soluit.
[CELSUS, in the sixth book of the Digests.] You promised by mistake money that was not due; the person who had become surety for you paid it.
ego existimo, si nomine tuo soluerit fideiussor, te fideiussori, stipulatorem tibi obligatum fore: nec exspectandum est, ut ratum habeas, quoniam potes uideri id ipsum mandasse, ut tuo nomine solueretur: sin autem fideiussor suo nomine soluerit quod non debebat, ipsum a stipulatore repetere posse, quoniam indebitam iure gentium pecuniam soluit: quo minus autem consequi poterit ab eo cui soluit, a te mandati iudicio consecuturum, si modo per ignorantiam petentem exceptione non summouerit.
I think that if the surety paid it in your name, you will be bound to the surety, and the stipulator will be bound to you; and there is no need to wait for you to ratify it, since you can be deemed to have mandated this very thing, namely, that payment should be made in your name. But if the surety paid in his own name what he did not owe, he himself can recover it from the stipulator, since he paid money not due under the law of nations; however, as to what he is less able to obtain from the person to whom he paid, he will obtain it from you by the action of mandate, provided that he did not, out of ignorance, fail to repel the claimant with an exception.

Notes

  1. §12.6.47.prte fideiussori, stipulatorem tibi obligatum fore — An accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction. With the future infinitive 'obligatum fore' functioning as the common predicate, 'te' is the subject and 'fideiussori' the dative complement in the first part, while 'stipulatorem' is the subject and 'tibi' the dative complement in the second. This contrast shows that if the surety pays in the debtor's name, the payment is attributed to the debtor, giving rise to an obligation between the debtor and the surety (under mandate) and another between the creditor and the debtor (under condictio indebiti).
  2. §12.6.47.prquo minus — The ablative 'quo' indicates the degree of difference ('by how much less'). It means that the surety can recover from the debtor via an action of mandate (mandati iudicio) whatever deficiency or remaining amount they were unable to recover (via condictio) from the creditor to whom they made the payment.
  3. §12.6.47.prsi modo per ignorantiam petentem exceptione non summouerit — The accusative present participle 'petentem' is the direct object of 'summouerit', referring to the claiming creditor. 'si modo... non' introduces a restrictive condition ('provided that... did not'). It indicates that the surety's right of recourse against the debtor (mandati iudicio) is allowed only if the surety, out of ignorance of the lack of debt, made the payment and failed to repel the creditor's claim with an exception (exceptio).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.6.47.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.6.47.pr

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