Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §15.3.6.pr

Sale of Peculium and Liability for Turning to the Master's Use

Passage 2326 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Tryphoninus explains why the sale of peculiar property is not deemed a turn to the master's account, arguing through a reductio ad absurdum that otherwise liability would arise merely from the slave holding the property before any sale.

[TRYPHONINUS libro primo disputationum. ] §15.3.6.prNam si hoc uerum esset, etiam antequam uenderet rem peculiarem, de in rem uerso teneretur, quia hoc ipso, quod seruus rem in peculio haberet, locupletior fieret, quod aperte falsum est.

[TRYPHONINUS, disputations, book 1] For if this were true, he would be liable for what has been turned to his account even before he sold the thing belonging to the peculium, because by the very fact that the slave held the thing in his peculium, the master would become richer; which is patently false.

Notes

15.3.6.prsi hoc uerum esset ... teneretur — A conditional sentence expressing a present counterfactual assumption using the imperfect subjunctive. This argument supports the rule stated at the end of the previous section (15.3.5.3)—that the master's sale of peculiar property does not constitute a turn to his account—by showing the absurd consequence that would follow if it were otherwise.
15.3.6.prhoc ipso, quod ... haberet — The clause introduced by quod stands in apposition to and explains the content of the ablative phrase hoc ipso ("by the very fact that...").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §15.3.6.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:15.3.6.pr

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