Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.39.pr-18.1.39.1

Repurchase of Pledges and Quantity Limits on Unharvested Crops

Passage 2627 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the non-applicability of the action on sale when a debtor buys back a pledge, and the determination of price and limitation of the buyer's claim based on the actual yield in the sale of hanging olives.

[IULIANUS libro quinto decimo digestorum. ] §18.1.39.prSi debitor rem pigneratam a creditore redemerit, quasi suae rei emptor actione ex uendito non tenetur et omnia in integro sunt creditori.
[JULIANUS, in the fifteenth book of Digests.] If a debtor should buy back a pledged thing from the creditor, he is, as it were, a buyer of his own thing, and is not held by the action on sale, and all things remain intact for the creditor.
§18.1.39.1Uerisimile est eum, qui fructum oliuae pendentis uendidisset et stipulatus est decem pondo olei quod natum esset, pretium constituisse ex eo quod natum esset usque ad decem pondo olei: idcirco solis quinque collectis non amplius emptor petere potest quam quinque pondo olei, quae collecta essent, a plerisque responsum est.
It is probable that one who sold the fruit of a hanging olive and stipulated for ten pounds of the oil that should be produced, established the price from that which should be produced up to ten pounds of oil; therefore, if only five pounds were collected, the buyer cannot demand more than the five pounds of oil which were collected, as has been answered by most.

Notes

  1. 18.1.39.practione ex uendito non tenetur — actione ex uendito (action on sale) is in the ablative case. non tenetur is passive, meaning "is not held" or "is not bound." This indicates that when a debtor agrees to buy back a pledged property which already belongs to him, it does not function as a standard sale with transfer of ownership, and thus he is not liable under the action available to a seller.
  2. 18.1.39.1Uerisimile est eum ... pretium constituisse — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction is used as the subject of uerisimile est (it is probable), with the accusative subject eum and the perfect active infinitive constituisse. The pronoun eum is modified by the relative clause qui... uendidisset et stipulatus est...
  3. 18.1.39.1solis quinque collectis — An ablative absolute construction consisting of solis quinque (only five [pounds]) and collectis (having been collected, perfect passive participle of colligo in the ablative plural). The noun pondo (pounds) or libris is understood after quinque.
  4. 18.1.39.1non amplius emptor petere potest — The emptor (buyer) here refers to the buyer of the olive fruit. Under the contract, if the yield of the olive fruit is less than the expected ten pounds of oil, the price (or the scope of performance) is restricted to the actual amount obtained (five pounds); therefore, the buyer cannot demand more fruit or oil from the seller, illustrating the allocation of risk in the sale of expected future goods (emptio rei speratae).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.39.pr-18.1.39.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.39.pr-18.1.39.1

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