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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §15.3.13.pr

Action When Profit Accrues to Only One Joint Master

Passage 2333 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian supports Julian's view that if a slave's transaction benefits only one of the joint masters, only that master can be sued, just as if he alone had given the order, rather than the partner being held liable.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo nono ad edictum. ] §15.3.13.prSi in rem alterius ex dominis uersum sit, utrum is solus in cuius rem uersum est an et socius possit conueniri, quaeritur.
[ULPIAN, On the Edict, book 29] If it has been turned to the account of one of two masters, the question is whether only he to whose account it was turned can be sued, or whether his partner can be sued as well.
et Iulianus scribit eum solum conueniri in cuius rem uersum est, sicuti cum solus iussit: quam sententiam puto ueram.
And Julian writes that only he to whose account it was turned can be sued, just as when he alone gave the order; which opinion I think is correct.

Notes

  1. §15.3.13.pralterius ex dominis — This means 'one of the two masters'. The pronominal adjective 'alter' typically refers to one of two, indicating a situation where there are two joint masters. 'ex dominis' is used with 'ex' plus the ablative instead of a partitive genitive.
  2. §15.3.13.prutrum is solus ... an et socius ... quaeritur — The correlatives 'utrum ... an ...' introduce an alternative indirect question, which functions as the subject clause of the impersonal passive verb 'quaeritur' (the question is).
  3. §15.3.13.prsicuti cum solus iussit — 'cum solus iussit' refers to 'when one (of the joint masters) alone gave the order'. In that case, only the ordering master is liable under the 'actio quod iussu'; thus a parallel is drawn with the present case of sole enrichment under the 'actio de in rem uerso'.
  4. §15.3.13.prquam sententiam puto ueram — An instance of relative connection (connecting relative) where 'quam' refers back to Julian's opinion. The verb 'puto' takes an accusative (quam sententiam) and a predicate accusative (ueram), forming a double accusative construction ('I think this opinion is correct').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §15.3.13.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:15.3.13.pr

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