Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.4.11.pr

Sale of an Uncertain Inheritance as a Sale of Expectation

Passage 2709 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that a contract of sale concluded under the condition "if there is any inheritance" is valid as a "sale of expectation" (emptio spei), comparing it to a cast of a net where the uncertainty itself is sold.

[ULPIANUS libro trigesimo secundo ad edictum. ] §18.4.11.prNam hoc modo admittitur esse uenditionem 'si qua sit hereditas, est tibi empta', et quasi spes hereditatis: ipsum enim incertum rei ueneat, ut in retibus.
[ULPIAN, On the Edict, book 32.] For in this way it is admitted that there is a sale, namely, 'if there be any inheritance, it is bought by you,' and as it were a hope of an inheritance; for the very uncertainty of the thing is sold, as in the case of a cast of a net.

Notes

  1. 18.4.11.pradmittitur esse uenditionem — The passive verb admittitur is used impersonally, with the accusative and infinitive clause uenditionem esse (that there is a sale) serving as its logical subject.
  2. 18.4.11.prquasi spes hereditatis — The nominative spes (hope) does not syntactically agree in case with the preceding accusative uenditionem, but semantically it functions as an appositive characterizing the object of the contract ('as it were, a hope of an inheritance'). Some editions emend this to the accusative spem.
  3. 18.4.11.prueneat — The present subjunctive of ueneo (to be sold). Used in a clause introduced by the causal particle enim, the subjunctive serves to characterize the legal nature of the contract under discussion.
  4. 18.4.11.prut in retibus — The phrase 'as in the case of nets' is a classic Roman law illustration of the 'sale of a hope' (emptio spei), denoting a contract where the risk and the uncertainty of a future catch itself constitute the object of the sale.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.4.11.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.4.11.pr

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