Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.14.pr

Mutual Mistake as to Material and Validity of Sale

Passage 2602 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the validity of a sale when both parties are mistaken about the material and quality of an object, stating that the sale is valid if it contains some gold but void if bronze is sold as gold.

[ULPIANUS libro uicesimo octauo ad Sabinum. ] §18.1.14.prQuid tamen dicemus, si in materia et qualitate ambo errarent? ut puta si et ego me uendere aurum putarem et tu emere, cum aes esset? ut puta coheredes uiriolam, quae aurea dicebatur, pretio exquisito uni heredi uendidissent eaque inuenta esset magna ex parte aenea? uenditionem esse constat ideo, quia auri aliquid habuit.
[ULPIAN, in the twenty-eighth book on Sabinus.] But what shall we say, if both were mistaken in the material and the quality? As for instance, if I too thought I was selling gold and you that you were buying it, when it was bronze? As for instance, if co-heirs had sold a bracelet, which was said to be of gold, for a carefully negotiated price to one of the heirs, and it was found to be for the most part of bronze? It is established that there is a sale, for the reason that it contained some gold.
nam si inauratum aliquid sit, licet ego aureum putem, ualet uenditio: si autem aes pro auro ueneat, non ualet.
For if something is gilded, although I think it is gold, the sale is valid; but if bronze is sold as gold, it is not valid.

Notes

  1. §18.1.14.prpretio exquisito — Ablative of price. The adjective 'exquisitus' can mean 'carefully determined/appraised' or 'choice/premium'. It refers to a price that was specially evaluated or substantial.
  2. §18.1.14.pruenditionem esse constat — An accusative and infinitive construction (AcI) with the subject accusative 'uenditionem' and the infinitive 'esse', functioning as the subject of the impersonal verb 'constat' (it is well-established / agreed).
  3. §18.1.14.prueneat — Third-person singular present subjunctive of the verb 'ueneo' (to be sold), which serves as the passive voice for 'uendo'. It should be distinguished from 'ueniat' (from 'uenio', to come).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.14.pr

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