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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.2.pr-18.1.2.1

Sales Between Father and Son and Formation by Consent

Passage 2590 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains the general prohibition of sales between father and son with an exception for military property, and states that consent, not the payment of the price, completes an unwritten sale.

[ULPIANUS libro primo ad Sabinum. ] §18.1.2.prInter patrem et filium contrahi emptio non potest.
[ULPIANUS libro primo ad Sabinum.]\n\nA sale cannot be contracted between a father and a son.
non potest, sed de rebus castrensibus potest. §18.1.2.1Sine pretio nulla uenditio est: non autem pretii numeratio, sed conuentio perficit sine scriptis habitam emptionem.
It cannot, but in respect of military property it can.\n\nWithout a price there is no sale; however, it is not the payment of the price, but the agreement, that completes a sale contracted without writing.

Notes

  1. §18.1.2.prde rebus castrensibus — Meaning 'concerning military property' (peculium castrense). Although a son under paternal power (filius familias) generally could not own separate property or contract with his father, an exception was made for property acquired through military service, over which he had independent control.
  2. §18.1.2.1sine scriptis habitam emptionem — The perfect passive participle habitam (from habere, 'to hold' or 'to contract') modifies emptionem, meaning 'a sale contracted'. It is qualified by sine scriptis ('without writing'). This reinforces that sale in Roman law is a consensual contract (contractus consensu) which is completed by consent alone without the necessity of a written document.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.2.pr-18.1.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.2.pr-18.1.2.1

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