Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §17.2.59.pr-17.2.59.1

Succession of Heirs in Tax-Farming and Personal Losses

Passage 2562 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius explains that while a partnership is generally dissolved by a partner's death, this rule can be modified in a tax-farming partnership if the deceased's share is assigned to the heir. He also rules that personal losses from gambling cannot be recovered from the common fund, whereas damages caused by fraud can be recovered.

[POMPONIUS libro duodecimo ad Sabinum. ] §17.2.59.prAdeo morte socii soluitur societas, ut nec ab initio pacisci possimus, ut heres etiam succedat societati.
[POMPONIUS in the twelfth book on Sabinus] A partnership is dissolved by the death of a partner to such an extent that we cannot even from the beginning agree that the heir also succeeds to the partnership.
haec ita in priuatis societatibus ait: in societate uectigalium nihilo minus manet societas et post mortem alicuius, sed ita demum, si pars defuncti ad personam heredis eius adscripta sit, ut heredi quoque conferri oporteat: quod ipsum ex causa aestimandum est.
He says these things thus in private partnerships; but in a partnership for public taxes, the partnership nevertheless remains even after the death of someone, but only if the share of the deceased has been assigned to the person of his heir, so that it ought to be conferred upon the heir as well; which very thing must be evaluated from the circumstances.
quid enim, si is mortuus sit, propter cuius operam maxime societas coita sit aut sine quo societas administrari non possit?
For what if he should die, on account of whose services especially the partnership was formed, or without whom the partnership cannot be managed?
§17.2.59.1Quod in alea aut adulterio perdiderit socius, ex medio non est laturus: si quid uero dolo nostro socius damni ceperit, a nobis repetet.
What a partner has lost in gambling or adultery, he is not to take from the common fund; but if a partner has suffered any damage through our fraud, he shall recover it from us.

Notes

  1. §17.2.59.pradeo ... ut ... ut ... — On the structure of the two ut clauses. The first ut nec... possimus is a consecutive clause (clause of result) correlating with adeo ('to such an extent that...'). The second ut heres etiam succedat societati is a noun clause specifying the content of the agreement governed by the verb pacisci ('to the effect that the heir should also succeed to the partnership').
  2. §17.2.59.prquod ipsum — A linking relative (relative connection), where the neuter pronoun quod refers back to the entire preceding circumstance (that the deceased's share is assigned to the heir and should be conferred upon them). It serves as the subject of the clause, meaning 'this very thing.'
  3. §17.2.59.1ex medio non est laturus — ex medio is an idiomatic expression meaning 'from the common fund' or 'from the joint property.' non est laturus is the active periphrastic conjugation (future active participle with esse), which here expresses propriety or prohibition ('he is not to take' / 'he must not recover') rather than a simple future event.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §17.2.59.pr-17.2.59.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:17.2.59.pr-17.2.59.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.