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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §18.6.8.pr-18.6.8.2

Perfection of Sale and Risk in Conditional Sales

Passage 2741 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses when a sale is perfected, the transfer of risk and the effects of a pending condition, and distinguishes between selling an existing right of usufruct and establishing a new usufruct on one's own property.

[IDEM libro trigesimo tertio ad edictum. ] §18.6.8.prNecessario sciendum est, quando perfecta sit emptio: tunc enim sciemus, cuius periculum sit: nam perfecta emptione periculum ad emptorem respiciet.
[THE SAME, in Book 33 on the Edict.] It is necessary to know when a sale is perfected: for then we shall know whose the risk is: for once the sale is perfected, the risk will belong to the buyer.
et si id quod uenierit appareat quid quale quantum sit, sit et pretium, et pure uenit, perfecta est emptio: quod si sub condicione res uenierit, si quidem defecerit condicio, nulla est emptio, sicuti nec stipulatio: quod si exstiterit, Proculus et Octauenus emptoris esse periculum aiunt: idem Pomponius libro nono probat.
And if it is clear what has been sold, of what quality, and how much, and the price is also established, and it is sold unconditionally, the sale is perfected; but if the thing has been sold under a condition, indeed if the condition fails, there is no sale, just as there is no stipulation; but if the condition is fulfilled, Proculus and Octavenus say that the risk is the buyer's; Pomponius approves the same in his ninth book.
quod si pendente condicione emptor uel uenditor decesserit, constat, si exstiterit condicio, heredes quoque obligatos esse quasi iam contracta emptione in praeteritum.
But if, while the condition is pending, the buyer or the seller dies, it is established that, if the condition is fulfilled, the heirs also are bound as though the sale had already been contracted in the past.
quod si pendente condicione res tradita sit, emptor non poterit eam usucapere pro emptore.
But if, while the condition is pending, the thing has been delivered, the buyer cannot usucapt it as a buyer.
et quod pretii solutum est repetetur et fructus medii temporis uenditoris sunt (sicuti stipulationes et legata condicionalia peremuntur) si pendente condicione res exstincta fuerit: sane si exstet res, licet deterior effecta, potest dici esse damnum emptoris.
And whatever of the price has been paid will be recovered, and the fruits of the intervening time belong to the seller (just as conditional stipulations and legacies are extinguished), if, while the condition is pending, the thing has perished; indeed, if the thing survives, although rendered worse, it can be said to be the loss of the buyer.
§18.6.8.1Si ita uenierit: 'est ille seruus emptus, siue nauis ex Asia uenerit siue non uenerit', Iulianus putat statim perfectam esse uenditionem, quoniam certum sit eam contractam.
If it is sold in this way: 'Let that slave be bought, whether a ship comes from Asia or does not come,' Julian thinks that the sale is perfected immediately, since it is certain that it has been contracted.
§18.6.8.2Cum usum fructum mihi uendis, interest, utrum ius utendi fruendi, quod solum tuum sit, uendas, an uero in ipsum corpus, quod tuum sit, usum fructum mihi uendas: nam priore casu etiamsi statim morieris, nihil mihi heres tuus debebit, heredi autem meo debebitur, si tu uiuis: posteriore casu heredi meo nihil debebitur, heres tuus debebit.
When you sell a usufruct to me, it makes a difference whether you sell the right of using and enjoying, which is yours alone, or whether you sell to me a usufruct in the physical thing itself, which is yours: for in the former case, even if you die immediately, your heir will owe nothing to me, but it will be owed to my heir if you are alive; in the latter case, nothing will be owed to my heir, but your heir will owe it.

Notes

  1. §18.6.8.prquasi iam contracta emptione in praeteritum — The conjunction 'quasi' (as if) is used with the ablative absolute 'iam contracta emptione' (the sale having already been contracted) to express a legal fiction of retroactivity upon the fulfillment of the condition. 'In praeteritum' (into the past) modifies 'contracta', indicating the retroactive effect.
  2. §18.6.8.prsi pendente condicione res exstincta fuerit — This conditional clause ('if, while the condition is pending, the thing has perished') modifies the preceding main clause ('the price... will be recovered, and the fruits... belong to the seller'). It regulates the legal consequences, such as the recovery of the paid price under unjust enrichment, when the contract is definitively rendered void due to the destruction of the subject matter while the condition is pending.
  3. §18.6.8.2heredi autem meo debebitur, si tu uiuis — The verb 'debebitur' is used impersonally (or with the performance mentioned above as the subject) in the passive voice, meaning 'it will be owed' or 'performance must be rendered,' taking the dative 'heredi meo' (to my heir). Under the condition 'si tu uiuis' (if you are alive), since the usufruct itself does not perish as long as the seller lives, the obligation to perform remains due to the buyer's heir even after the buyer's death.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §18.6.8.pr-18.6.8.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:18.6.8.pr-18.6.8.2

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