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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.1.7.pr-18.1.7.2

Discretionary Conditions and Price Determinability in Sales

Passage 2595 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian argues that the condition of the master's judgment must be interpreted as the judgment of an honorable man, and clarifies that sales with objectively determinable or partially fixed prices are valid.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo octauo ad Sabinum. ] §18.1.7.prHaec uenditio serui 'si rationes domini computasset arbitrio' condicionalis est: condicionales autem uenditiones tunc perficiuntur, cum impleta fuerit condicio.
[ULPIANUS, in the twenty-eighth book on Sabinus.] This sale of a slave, "if he should settle the accounts to the satisfaction of the master," is conditional; but conditional sales are completed only when the condition has been fulfilled.
sed utrum haec est uenditionis condicio, si ipse dominus putasset suo arbitrio, an uero si arbitrio uiri boni? nam si arbitrium domini accipiamus, uenditio nulla est, quemadmodum si quis ita uendiderit, si uoluerit, uel stipulanti sic spondeat 'si uoluero, decem dabo': neque enim debet in arbitrium rei conferri, an sit obstructus.
But is this condition of sale to be understood as meaning if the master himself should so judge by his own personal will, or rather if it is according to the judgment of an honorable man? For if we accept the personal will of the master, the sale is void, just as if someone should sell on the condition "if he wishes," or should promise to a stipulator "if I wish, I will give ten"; for it ought not to be left to the discretion of the debtor whether he is bound.
placuit itaque ueteribus magis in uiri boni arbitrium id collatum uideri quam in domini.
Therefore, the ancient jurists preferred to hold that this was referred to the judgment of an honorable man rather than to that of the master.
si igitur rationes potuit accipere nec accepit, uel accepit, fingit autem se non accepisse, impleta condicio emptionis est et ex empto uenditor conueniri potest.
If, therefore, he could have accepted the accounts but did not, or did accept them but pretends not to have done so, the condition of the purchase is fulfilled, and the seller can be sued on the purchase.
§18.1.7.1Huiusmodi emptio 'quanti tu eum emisti', 'quantum pretii in arca habeo', ualet: nec enim incertum est pretium tam euidenti uenditione: magis enim ignoratur, quanti emptus sit, quam in rei ueritate incertum est.
A purchase of this kind, "for the price you bought him for," or "for the amount of money I have in my chest," is valid; for the price is not uncertain in so obvious a sale; indeed, it is rather temporarily unknown for how much he was bought, than uncertain in the reality of the matter.
§18.1.7.2Si quis ita emerit: 'est mihi fundus emptus centum et quanto pluris eum uendidero', ualet uenditio et statim impletur: habet enim certum pretium centum, augebitur autem pretium, si pluris emptor fundum uendiderit.
If anyone should buy in this way: "The land is bought by me for one hundred, plus whatever amount more I shall sell it for," the sale is valid and is completed immediately; for it has a certain price of one hundred, but the price will be increased if the buyer sells the land for more.

Notes

  1. §18.1.7.prsi rationes domini computasset arbitrio — The pluperfect subjunctive computasset represents a hypothetical action functioning as a condition of the contract. The ablative arbitrio ("according to the judgment") raises the key interpretive issue of whether this implies the subjective whim of the master or the objective standard of "the judgment of an honorable man" (uiri boni arbitrium).
  2. §18.1.7.pran sit obstructus — The reading obstructus in the manuscripts is commonly emended to obstrictus ("bound" or "obligated") or obligatus. The indirect question clause introduced by an depends on the infinitive conferri (the subject of the impersonal debet), expressing the rule that whether a debtor (rei, genitive of reus) is bound cannot be left to their own subjective discretion (the invalidity of purely potestative conditions).
  3. §18.1.7.2quanto pluris eum uendidero — quanto is an ablative of degree of difference modifying pluris, the comparative of the genitive of value, meaning "by how much more". It explains that even though the final price depends on an uncertain future resale price, the contract is immediately valid because there is already a certain base price (one hundred).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.1.7.pr-18.1.7.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.1.7.pr-18.1.7.2

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