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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.2.8.pr

Better Offer and Seller's Duty to Notify Prior Buyer

Passage 2677 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section states that when a better offer is made, the seller is obliged to notify the prior buyer to give them an opportunity to match or exceed the new bid.

[IDEM libro trigensimo tertio ad edictum. ] §18.2.8.prNecesse autem habebit uenditor meliore condicione allata priorem emptorem certiorem facere, ut, si quid alius adicit, ipse quoque adicere possit.
[THE SAME, On the Edict, book 33.] However, when a better term is offered, the seller will be obliged to inform the prior purchaser, so that if someone else adds anything, the prior purchaser himself may also be able to add to it.

Notes

  1. §18.2.8.prnecesse habebit — Like the impersonal 'necesse est', 'necesse habere' followed by an infinitive (here, 'certiorem facere') means 'to be obliged to' or 'to have to'. The future tense 'habebit' indicates the future obligation that arises once the condition is met.
  2. §18.2.8.prmeliore condicione allata — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun 'condicio' and 'allata', the perfect participle feminine singular ablative of 'afferre' (adferre). It expresses either a condition ('if a better term is offered') or time ('when a better term is offered').
  3. §18.2.8.prquid — Based on the rule that after the conjunction 'si', the indefinite pronoun 'aliquid' drops its prefix 'ali-' and becomes 'quid' ('anything' or 'something').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.2.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.2.8.pr

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