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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.4.8.pr

Seller Liability for Inheritances Belonging to Another

Passage 2706 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the seller's liability when no inheritance belonged to them, distinguishing between cases where some inheritance exists but belongs to another (valued based on the inheritance itself) and cases where no such inheritance exists at all (limited to recovering the price and incurred expenses).

[IAUOLENUS libro secundo ex Plautio. ] §18.4.8.prQuod si nulla hereditas ad uenditorem pertinuit, quantum emptori praestare debuit, ita distingui oportebit, ut, si est quidem aliqua hereditas, sed ad uenditorem non pertinet, ipsa aestimetur, si nulla est, de qua actum uideatur, pretium dumtaxat et si quid in eam rem impensum est emptor a uenditore consequatur
[JAVOLENUS, From Plautius, book 2.] But if no inheritance belonged to the seller, as to how much he ought to make good to the buyer, a distinction must be made as follows: if indeed there is some inheritance, but it does not belong to the seller, the inheritance itself should be valued; if there is none which can be seen to have been the subject of the transaction, the buyer should recover from the seller only the price and whatever expenses have been incurred for that matter.

Notes

  1. §18.4.8.prquantum emptori praestare debuit — A relative clause meaning 'how much he ought to make good to the buyer'. It is placed before the main clause 'ita distingui oportebit' (it will have to be distinguished as follows) to introduce the topic of the distinction in advance.
  2. §18.4.8.prde qua actum uideatur — A relative clause modifying 'nulla (hereditas)'. 'actum' is the impersonal passive participle of 'agere', derived from the legal phrase 'de aliquo agere' (to transact or deal with something), meaning 'of which it is seen to have been transacted'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.4.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.4.8.pr

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