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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §16.3.32.pr

Equating Gross Negligence with Fraud in Depositary Care

Passage 2437 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Celsus defends Nerva's opinion that gross negligence is equivalent to fraud, arguing that failing to show even the same degree of care for a deposit as one does for one's own property amounts to bad faith.

[CELSUS libro undecimo digestorum. ] §16.3.32.prQuod Nerua diceret latiorem culpam dolum esse, Proculo displicebat, mihi uerissimum uidetur.
[CELSUS, Digest, Book 11] That Nerva said that gross negligence is fraud, was displeasing to Proculus, but to me it seems most true.
nam et si quis non ad eum modum quem hominum natura desiderat diligens est, nisi tamen ad suum modum curam in deposito praestat, fraude non caret: nec enim salua fide minorem is quam suis rebus diligentiam praestabit.
For even if a person is not diligent according to the standard which human nature requires, yet if he does not show care in the deposit according to his own standard, he is not free from fraud; for indeed, while good faith is preserved, he will not exhibit less diligence than he does in his own affairs.

Notes

  1. §16.3.32.prQuod Nerua diceret — The Quod clause is a noun clause expressing the fact ("that Nerva said...") which serves as the subject/topic for the main verbs displicere and uidere. The subjunctive diceret is used to report a past assertion or to represent a subjective characterization of his claim.
  2. §16.3.32.prlatiorem culpam — The comparative form of the adjective latus (broad, coarse), used here in a technical legal sense to denote culpa lata (gross negligence, i.e., the failure to show even the minimum care that anyone would exhibit).
  3. §16.3.32.prsalua fide — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun fides and the adjective saluus in the feminine singular ablative, here interpreted conditionally as "as long as good faith is preserved" or "provided that good faith is maintained."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §16.3.32.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:16.3.32.pr

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