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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §15.1.49.pr-15.1.49.2

Scope of Peculium, Slave's Negotiorum Gestio, and Debt Causes

Passage 2308 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains the expanded definition of a peculium and rules on the liability of a slave administering affairs without the master's knowledge, as well as the invalidity of a bare entry of debt in accounts.

[POMPONIUS libro quarto ad Quintum Mucium. ] §15.1.49.prNon solum id peculium est, quod dominus seruo concessit, uerum id quoque, quod ignorante quidem eo adquisitum sit, tamen, si rescisset, passurus erat esse in peculio.
[POMPONIUS in the fourth book on Quintus Mucius.] A peculium is not only that which a master has granted to his slave, but also that which, although acquired without his knowledge, he would nevertheless have allowed to be in the peculium if he had known of it.
§15.1.49.1Si ignorante me seruus meus negotia mea administrauerit, tantidem debitor mihi intellegetur, quanti tenebatur, si liber negotia mea administrasset.
If my slave should administer my affairs without my knowledge, he will be understood to be a debtor to me for just as much as he would have been liable for if a free man had administered my affairs.
§15.1.49.2Ut debitor uel seruus domino uel dominus seruo intellegatur, ex causa ciuili computandum est: ideoque si dominus in rationes suas referat se debere seruo suo, cum omnino neque mutuum acceperit neque ulla causa praecesserat debendi, nuda ratio non facit eum debitorem.
In order for either a slave to be understood as a debtor to his master, or a master to his slave, it must be calculated from a civil cause; and therefore, if a master should enter in his accounts that he owes money to his slave, when he has neither received any loan at all nor has any cause of owing preceded, the bare entry does not make him a debtor.

Notes

  1. 15.1.49.prpassurus erat — The active periphrastic conjugation composed of the future participle and the imperfect of esse. It functions as the apodosis to the conditional clause si rescisset (subjunctive pluperfect), expressing a contrary-to-fact situation ('he would have been about to allow'). This construction is used instead of the standard subjunctive pluperfect (passus esset) to emphasize the certainty of the master's past intention.
  2. 15.1.49.1tantidem... quanti — Correlative genitives of value. Tantidem is the genitive singular of tantundem ('just as much value'), and quanti is the genitive singular of the relative quantus. Together they mean 'for just as much as he would have been liable for if a free man had administered the affairs.'
  3. 15.1.49.2nuda ratio — Meaning 'bare accounting entry' or 'mere calculation.' It refers to a unilateral entry of debt in account books without any underlying transaction (such as a loan) or other valid civil law cause (causa).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §15.1.49.pr-15.1.49.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:15.1.49.pr-15.1.49.2

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