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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §13.6.23.pr

Borrower Non-Liability for Deterioration of an Unfit Horse

Passage 2138 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It is argued that in a loan of a horse, if the horse deteriorates during the journey without any fault of the borrower because it was unfit for the effort, the borrower is not liable, as the fault lies with the lender who provided an unsuitable horse.

[POMPONIUS libro uicensimo primo ad Quintum Mucium. ] §13.6.23.prSi commodauero tibi equum, quo utereris usque ad certum locum, si nulla culpa tua interueniente in ipso itinere deterior equus factus sit, non teneris commodati: nam ego in culpa ero, qui in tam longum iter commodaui, qui eum laborem sustinere non potuit.
[POMPONIUS, in the twenty-first book on Quintus Mucius.]\n\nIf I should loan you a horse for you to use up to a certain place, and if on the journey itself, without any fault of yours intervening, the horse should deteriorate, you are not liable under the action on loan; for I shall be at fault, who loaned for so long a journey a horse which could not sustain that labor.

Notes

  1. §13.6.23.prquo utereris — The relative pronoun `quo` (referring to `equum`) takes the imperfect subjunctive `utereris` (second-person singular of `utor`) to express the purpose or intended use of the loaned horse.
  2. §13.6.23.prnon teneris commodati — `commodati` is a genitive of charge or liability required by the passive verb `teneris` ("you are held liable"). It is functionally equivalent to the ablative `actione commodati` ("under the action on loan").
  3. §13.6.23.prqui eum laborem — The relative pronoun `qui` refers back to `equum` (the horse), which is the implied object of `commodaui` in the preceding clause. This is distinct from the immediately preceding `qui`, which refers to the subject of the main clause (`ego`).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §13.6.23.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:13.6.23.pr

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