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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §15.4.3.pr

Liability Limited to Orders and Invalidity of Unauthorized Pledges

Passage 2344 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In the action on the order of a master, the master is liable only to the extent of his order, and a pledge does not arise over estates mortgaged by a slave without the master's consent.

[ULPIANUS libro secundo responsorum. ] §15.4.3.prDominum, qui iussit semissibus usuris seruo suo pecuniam mutuam credi, hactenus teneri quatenus iussit: nec pignoris obligationem locum habere in his praediis, quae seruus non ex uoluntate domini obligauit.
[ULPIANUS, Opinions, book 2] A master who ordered money to be lent on loan to his slave at interest of one-half percent per month is liable only to the extent that he ordered; and a pledge obligation does not take effect on those estates which the slave pledged without the consent of the master.

Notes

  1. §15.4.3.prDominum — Since the entire passage is formatted as a citation of a legal opinion (responsum), it is structured in the Accusative with Infinitive (AcI) construction. The accusative dominum acts as the subject of the infinitive teneri, and after the conjunction nec, the accusative pignoris obligationem acts as the subject of the infinitive locum habere.
  2. §15.4.3.prsemissibus usuris — Ablative of price or rate. The term semis means one-half, which in Roman interest calculations denotes an interest rate of 1/2% per month (i.e., 6% per annum).
  3. §15.4.3.prhactenus teneri quatenus iussit — The correlative adverbs hactenus ... quatenus ... mean "only to the extent that...", limiting the master's liability to the precise scope of his order.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §15.4.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:15.4.3.pr

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