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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.20.pr

Distinction Between Sale and Hire Based on Materials

Passage 2608 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Sabinus rules that a contract to have an object made where only money is paid and no material is provided constitutes a sale rather than a lease, distinguishing this from providing a plot of land for building.

[IDEM libro nono ad Sabinum. ] §18.1.20.prSabinus respondit, si quam rem nobis fieri uelimus etiam, ueluti statuam uel uas aliquod seu uestem, ut nihil aliud quam pecuniam daremus, emptionem uideri, nec posse ullam locationem esse, ubi corpus ipsum non detur ab eo cui id fieret: aliter atque si aream darem, ubi insulam aedificares, quoniam tunc a me substantia proficiscitur.
[THE SAME, in the ninth book on Sabinus.] Sabinus answered that if we should wish any thing to be made for us, such as a statue, some vessel, or a garment, so that we should give nothing else than money, it appears to be a purchase, and there cannot be any lease-and-hire where the material itself is not given by him for whom it is to be made; otherwise than if I should give a plot of land where you were to build an apartment block, since in that case the substance proceeds from me.

Notes

  1. §18.1.20.prut nihil aliud quam pecuniam daremus — An `ut` clause with the imperfect subjunctive `daremus`. It describes the specific term or result accompanying the preceding `si` clause: 'so that we should give nothing other than money.'
  2. §18.1.20.prcorpus ipsum — Literally 'the body itself,' but here in the context of a contract of lease-and-hire (locatio conductio), it refers to the 'material' or 'raw substance' that should be supplied by the customer to the craftsman.
  3. §18.1.20.prcui id fieret — A relative clause modifying the antecedent `eo` (ablative). `cui` is a dative of advantage (dativus commodi), meaning 'for whom it (the object) is to be made.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.20.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.20.pr

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