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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §17.2.77.pr

Employer's Decision and Standard of a Fair Arbiter

Passage 2581 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Adduces the example of a contract for work where the completion of the work is left to the decision of the employer, illustrating that it must submit to the "decision of an honorable man."

[PAULUS libro quarto quaestionum. ] §17.2.77.pr(ueluti cum lege locationis comprehensum est, ut opus arbitrio locatoris fiat):
[PAULUS, in the fourth book of Questions.] (as, for instance, when it is stipulated in a contract of hire that the work shall be done to the satisfaction of the employer):

Notes

  1. §17.2.77.prlege locationis — Refers to the "terms or clauses of a contract of lease or hire (locatio conductio)". The following ut-clause expresses the specific term (lex) stipulated. Since this case concerns an opus (work or construction), it specifically refers to a contract for work (locatio conductio operis).
  2. §17.2.77.prarbitrio locatoris — In a contract for work (locatio conductio operis), the locator refers to the "employer (the party commissioning the work)". Even though the contract wording leaves the matter to the decision (arbitrium) of the employer themselves (a specific designated person), this serves as a concrete example of what must submit to the standard of the "decision of an honorable man" (arbitrium boni viri) as described by Proculus in the preceding section (76.pr), rather than being left to pure caprice.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §17.2.77.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:17.2.77.pr

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