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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §13.1.18.pr

Payment of Money Not Owed by an Agent and the Condictio

Passage 2066 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Based on the rule that receiving money while knowing it is not owed constitutes theft, this section discusses whether the procurator or the principal has the right to bring a condictio when a procurator pays his own money.

[SCAEUOLA libro quarto quaestionum. ] §13.1.18.prQuoniam furtum fit, cum quis indebitos nummos sciens acceperit, uidendum, si procurator suos nummos soluat, an ipsi furtum fiat.
[SCAEVOLA, Questions, Book IV] Since theft occurs when someone knowingly receives money that is not owed, it must be considered whether, if a procurator pays his own money, theft is committed against him himself.
et Pomponius epistularum libro octauo ipsum condicere ait ex causa furtiua: sed et me condicere, si ratum habeam quod indebitum datum sit.
And Pomponius, in the eighth book of his Letters, says that he himself can bring a condictio on the ground of theft; but that I also can bring a condictio, if I ratify that which was given when not owed.
sed altera condictione altera tollitur.
But by one condictio, the other is extinguished.

Notes

  1. §13.1.18.pripsi — ipsi (dative) refers to the procurator (agent) in the preceding conditional clause. Similarly, ipsum, the subject accusative of the infinitive in the following sentence, also refers to the agent.
  2. §13.1.18.prme — Scaevola uses the first-person me (accusative) to represent the position of the principal (dominus) who appointed the agent.
  3. §13.1.18.prratum habeam — A legal idiom meaning "to ratify". By subsequent ratification of the payment made by the agent, the principal (me) accepts the transaction as his own, thereby acquiring the right to bring the condictio.
  4. §13.1.18.praltera condictione altera — Meaning "by one [condictio] the other [condictio] is [extinguished]". While the agent's and the principal's rights to bring a condictio can coexist, the exercise of one extinguishes the other, preventing double recovery.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §13.1.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:13.1.18.pr

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