Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.33.pr

Ambiguous Drainage Terms and Interpretation Against Seller

Passage 2621 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses the legal principle that when a clause concerning water drainage in a sale contract is ambiguous, the parties' intention is first considered; if it remains unclear, the interpretation disadvantageous to the seller is adopted.

[POMPONIUS libro trigensimo tertio ad Sabinum. ] §18.1.33.prCum in lege uenditionis ita sit scriptum: 'flumina stillicidia uti nunc sunt, ut ita sint', nec additur, quae flumina uel stillicidia, primum spectari oportet, quid acti sit: si non id appareat, tunc id accipitur quod uenditori nocet: ambigua enim oratio est.

[POMPONIUS libro trigensimo tertio ad Sabinum.] When it is written in the terms of a sale: 'that the flow of rain-water and the dripping of water shall remain as they now are', and it is not added which flow or dripping is meant, we must first look to what was agreed upon; if this does not appear, then that which is disadvantageous to the seller is accepted, for the phrasing is ambiguous.

Notes

§18.1.33.prquid acti sit — The perfect participle genitive neuter singular 'acti' acts as a partitive genitive qualifying the interrogative pronoun 'quid'. It is semantically equivalent to 'quid actum sit' (what was transacted or agreed upon). It forms an indirect question, hence the subjunctive verb 'sit'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.33.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.33.pr

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