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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.37.pr

Absence of Reference Price and Failure of Sale

Passage 2625 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpianus explains that if an inherited estate is sold on the condition that the price matches what the testator paid for it, but it is later found that the testator received it as a gift, the sale is treated as a conditional sale that is void due to the failure of the condition.

[IDEM libro tertio disputationum. ] §18.1.37.prSi quis fundum iure hereditario sibi delatum ita uendidisset: 'erit tibi emptus tanti, quanti a testatore emptus est', mox inueniatur non emptus, sed donatus testatori, uidetur quasi sine pretio facta uenditio, ideoque similis erit sub condicione factae uenditioni, quae nulla est, si condicio defecerit.
[THE SAME, in the third book of Disputations.] If someone has sold a tract of land devolved upon him by hereditary right in this way: 'It shall be purchased by you for as much as it was purchased by the testator,' and it is soon after discovered that it was not purchased, but given as a gift to the testator, the sale is deemed as made, as it were, without a price, and therefore it will be similar to a sale made under a condition, which is null if the condition fails.

Notes

  1. §18.1.37.prtanti, quanti — Genitive of price (or value). Meaning 'for as much as,' it indicates the objective standard (the testator's purchase price) set for determining the price in the contract of sale.
  2. §18.1.37.prsub condicione factae uenditioni — Dative governed by the adjective `similis`. Since the premise that the testator purchased the land does not exist, the criteria of 'the price the testator paid' fails, meaning the transaction is treated equivalent to a conditional sale that has become void (`nulla`) due to the failure of the condition.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.37.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.37.pr

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