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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §16.2.21.pr

Statutory Set-Off and Absentee Agent's Security

Passage 2399 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains that, under the principle that set-off occurs by operation of law, when an absent person's representative is sued, he does not need to provide security for ratification because he does not actively set off anything; rather, a lesser sum is demanded from the start.

[PAULUS libro primo quaestionum. ] §16.2.21.prPosteaquam placuit inter omnes id quod inuicem debetur ipso iure compensari, si procurator absentis conueniatur, non debebit de rato cauere, quia nihil compensat, sed ab initio minus ab eo petitur.
[PAULUS, Questions, Book I.] Since it has been agreed among all that what is mutually owed is set off by operation of law, if the representative of an absent person is sued, he will not have to give security for ratification, because he does not set off anything, but from the beginning a lesser amount is demanded from him.

Notes

  1. §16.2.21.prid quod inuicem debetur ipso iure compensari — An accusative with infinitive (A.c.I.) construction acting as the subject of the impersonal verb placuit. The pronoun id (the antecedent of the relative clause quod inuicem debetur) is the subject accusative, and compensari is the passive infinitive.
  2. §16.2.21.prde rato cauere — An abbreviated expression for cautio de rato habendo, which is the security or guarantee that the absent principal will ratify the litigation conducted by the representative, provided to the plaintiff when the representative is sued.
  3. §16.2.21.prnihil compensat — The subject is procurator. Since set-off occurs by operation of law (ipso iure compensatio), the defendant representative does not need to actively assert or plead set-off (compensat); rather, because the plaintiff's claim is reduced from the very beginning, security for ratification (de rato) is rendered unnecessary.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §16.2.21.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:16.2.21.pr

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