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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.7.2.pr

Recovery of Compensation Paid for Found Clothes

Passage 2045 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The jurist discusses the recovery of compensation paid by a fuller for lost clothes that were subsequently found, examining the applicability of the action on the contract of hiring and the condictio.

[IDEM libro trigensimo secundo ad edictum. ] §12.7.2.prSi fullo uestimenta lauanda conduxerit, deinde amissis eis domino pretium ex locato conuentus praestiterit posteaque dominus inuenerit uestimenta, qua actione debeat consequi pretium quod dedit? et ait Cassius eum non solum ex conducto agere, uerum condicere domino posse: ego puto ex conducto omnimodo eum habere actionem: an autem et condicere possit, quaesitum est, quia non indebitum dedit: nisi forte quasi sine causa datum sic putamus condici posse: etenim uestimentis inuentis quasi sine causa datum uidetur.
[THE SAME, in his thirty-second book On the Edict.] If a fuller has contracted to clean clothes, and then, after they were lost, having been sued by the owner on the contract of letting, has paid their value, and afterwards the owner has found the clothes, by what action ought he to recover the price which he paid? And Cassius says that he can not only sue on the contract of hiring, but also bring a condictio against the owner. I think that he certainly has an action on the contract of hiring; but whether he can also bring a condictio is questioned, because he did not pay what was not due; unless perhaps we think that it can be claimed by condictio in this way, as having been paid, as it were, without cause; for, since the clothes have been found, it seems to have been paid, as it were, without cause.

Notes

  1. 12.7.2.pramissis eis domino pretium ex locato conuentus praestiterit — The structure is "having been sued (conuentus, passive perfect participle agreeing with the subject, the fuller) on the contract of letting (ex locato), he paid the price to the owner (domino, dative depending on praestiterit), after they were lost (amissis eis, ablative absolute)."
  2. 12.7.2.prnisi forte quasi sine causa datum sic putamus condici posse — datum can be understood either substantively as "that which was given" (id quod datum est) or as an infinitive clause with the omission of esse (datum esse). The entire phrase forms a qualification introduced by nisi forte: "unless perhaps we think that what was given as if without cause can be claimed by condictio in this way."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.7.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.7.2.pr

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