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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.44.pr

Invalidity of Joint Sale When One of the Slaves Has Died

Passage 2632 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section rules that if two slaves are bought together for a single price and one of them had died before the sale, the purchase is not valid even for the surviving slave.

[MARCIANUS libro tertio regularum. ] §18.1.44.prSi duos quis seruos emerit pariter uno pretio, quorum alter ante uenditionem mortuus est, neque in uiuo constat emptio.
[MARCIANUS, Rules, book 3] If anyone should buy two slaves together for a single price, of whom one had died before the sale, the purchase is not valid even in respect of the one who is living.

Notes

  1. 18.1.44.prpariter uno pretio — Meaning "together for a single price." It indicates that an indivisible lump-sum price was set for both slaves, rather than individual prices. This indivisibility is the key reason why the impossibility of performing one part of the contract leads to the invalidity of the entire transaction.
  2. 18.1.44.prneque in uiuo — The word neque emphasizes that the sale is not valid "even/neither in the case of the living one." Because one party was already dead before the contract, the absence of the object of the contract (original impossibility) renders the entire transaction invalid, including the part concerning the surviving slave.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.44.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.44.pr

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