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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.69.pr

Rise of Lake Waters and Boundaries of Purchased Land

Passage 2657 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Regarding the question of whether the boundaries of purchased land around a lake shift with the water level or remain fixed to the physical limits at the time of the sale, Proculus answers that they remain fixed to the limits that existed when the contract was made.

[IDEM libro undecimo epistularum. ] §18.1.69.prRutilia Polla emit lacum Sabatenem Angularium et circa eum lacum pedes decem: quaero, numquid et decem pedes, qui tunc accesserunt, sub aqua sint, quia lacus creuit, an proximi pedes decem ab aqua Rutiliae Pollae iuris sint.
[The same, in the eleventh book of Epistles.] Rutilia Polla bought the Angularian part of the Sabatenian lake and ten feet around that lake. I ask whether the ten feet which were then added are under water, because the lake has risen, or whether the ten feet closest to the water are within the right of Rutilia Polla.
Proculus respondit: ego existimo eatenus lacum, quem emit Rutilia Polla, uenisse, quatenus tunc fuit, et circa eum decem pedes qui tunc fuerunt, nec ob eam rem, quod lacus postea creuit, latius eum possidere debet quam emit.
Proculus answered: I think that the lake which Rutilia Polla bought was sold only to the extent that it then existed, and the ten feet around it were those which then existed; nor, because the lake afterwards rose, ought she to possess it more widely than she bought.

Notes

  1. §18.1.69.prRutiliae Pollae iuris sint — The word 'iuris' is a genitive of possession or belonging, used with the copula 'sint' to mean 'to belong to the right or jurisdiction of'. 'Rutiliae Pollae' depends on this, meaning as a whole 'to be within the right of Rutilia Polla'.
  2. §18.1.69.pruenisse — This is the perfect infinitive of the verb 'ueneo' (to be sold), which functions as the passive voice of 'uendere' (to sell). It forms the infinitive clause (acI) after 'existimo', with the accusative 'lacum' as its subject.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.69.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.69.pr

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