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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §14.4.12.pr

Deduction of Distribution Payments from Remaining Peculium

Passage 2231 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Julian discusses whether a master, who made an excessive deduction in a distribution and must pay the difference to external creditors under an actio tributoria, can still deduct that amount as a creditor of the slave from the peculium outside the merchandise in an actio de peculio.

[IULIANUS libro duodecimo digestorum. ] §14.4.12.prAlius dumtaxat de peculio, alius tributoria serui nomine cum domino agit: quaesitum est, an deducere dominus de peculio debeat, quod tributoria agenti praestaturus sit.
[JULIANUS, from the twelfth book of the Digests.] One creditor brings an action only on the peculium, another brings the action for distribution against the master on account of a slave: the question arose whether the master ought to deduct from the peculium what he is about to pay to the plaintiff in the action for distribution.
respondit: tributoria actione tunc demum agi potest, cum dominus in distribuendo pretio mercis edicto praetoris non satisfecit, id est cum maiorem partem debiti sui deduxit quam creditoribus tribuit, ueluti si cum in merce triginta fuissent, in quam ipse quidem quindecim crediderat, duo autem extranei triginta, tota quindecim deduxerit, et creditoribus reliqua quindecim dederit, cum deberet sola decem deducere, extraneis dena tribuere.
He replied: "An action for distribution can only be brought when the master, in distributing the price of the merchandise, has not complied with the edict of the praetor; that is, when he has deducted a larger portion of his own debt than he has distributed to the creditors. For example, if, while there were thirty in the merchandise, to which he himself had indeed credited fifteen, and two external creditors thirty, he deducted the whole fifteen, and gave the remaining fifteen to the creditors, whereas he ought to have deducted only ten, and distributed ten each to the external creditors.
cum igitur hoc fecit, nec intellegendus est seruum a se liberasse eo, quod quinque adhuc nomine eius tributoria actione praestaturus sit: quare si agi de peculio coeperit, cum forte extra mercem peculium esset, quinque tamquam adhuc creditor serui deducere debebit.
Therefore, when he has done this, he must not be understood to have released the slave from himself by the fact that he is still going to pay five on his account under the action for distribution; wherefore, if an action on the peculium is begun, when there happens to be peculium outside the merchandise, he will be entitled to deduct five, as still being a creditor of the slave."

Notes

  1. §14.4.12.prdumtaxat de peculio — The adverb dumtaxat ("only", "at least") modifies the prepositional phrase de peculio, meaning "only concerning the peculium" (under the actio de peculio). This is contrasted with another creditor bringing the actio tributoria.
  2. §14.4.12.prdeducere dominus de peculio debeat, quod tributoria agenti praestaturus sit — "quod" is a relative pronoun whose antecedent (such as "id") is omitted, acting as the direct object of "deducere". "tributoria" is feminine ablative singular with "actione" understood ("by the action for distribution"). "agenti" (dative singular of the present participle "agens") refers to the plaintiff bringing that action.
  3. §14.4.12.prcum in merce triginta fuissent — The conjunction "cum" here expresses concession or circumstance ("although" or "when"), taking the subjunctive pluperfect "fuissent". "triginta" (thirty) is used substantively to represent the value or amount of the merchandise.
  4. §14.4.12.prnec intellegendus est seruum a se liberasse eo, quod — The gerundive "intellegendus" with "est" forms a passive periphrastic conjugation meaning "must not be understood". The subject of the infinitive "liberasse" (syncopated form of "liberauisse") is the master ("dominus", understood), "seruum" is its direct object, and "a se" means "from himself" (i.e. from liability to the master). "eo, quod..." means "by the fact that..." indicating the reason.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §14.4.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:14.4.12.pr

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