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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.4.25.pr

Duty to Transfer Benefits from Excluded Land in Estate Sale

Passage 2723 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Presents the opinions of Labeo and Paulus regarding the ownership of benefits acquired by the seller in connection with a specific plot of land that was excluded from the sale of an inheritance. Labeo asserts the seller's duty to deliver it to the buyer, while Paulus argues that the parties' agreement is the primary standard, defaulting to delivery if the agreement is unclear.

[IDEM libro secundo pithanon. ] §18.4.25.prSi excepto fundo hereditario ueniit hereditas, deinde eius fundi nomine uenditor aliquid adquisit, debet id praestare emptori hereditatis.
[THE SAME, Book 2 of Probabilities.] If an inheritance is sold with the exception of a tract of land belonging to the inheritance, and subsequently the seller acquires something on account of that land, he ought to deliver it to the buyer of the inheritance.
PAULUS: immo semper quaeritur in ea re, quid actum fuerit: si autem id non apparebit, praestare eam rem debebit emptori uenditor, nam id ipsum ex ea hereditate ad eum peruenisse uidebitur non secus ac si eum fundum in hereditate uendenda non excepisset.
PAULUS: On the contrary, in this matter, it is always asked what was agreed upon; but if this does not appear, the seller must deliver that thing to the buyer, for that very thing will be deemed to have come to him from that inheritance, just as if he had not excepted that land in selling the inheritance.

Notes

  1. §18.4.25.prueniit — A perfect third-person singular form of the verb *ueneo* ("to be sold"), representing *uēniit*. It should not be confused with the present tense of the same verb (*uĕnit*) or the perfect of *uĕnio* ("to come", *uēnit*).
  2. §18.4.25.prquid actum fuerit — An indirect question clause using the perfect passive subjunctive of *ago*. In Roman legal texts, *quid actum sit/fuerit* refers specifically to "what was agreed upon" or "what the parties intended," rather than merely "what was done."
  3. §18.4.25.prnon secus ac si — An idiomatic comparative expression meaning "just as if" or "not otherwise than if." It introduces a counterfactual conditional clause, followed by the pluperfect subjunctive *non excepisset*.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.4.25.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.4.25.pr

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