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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.1.31.pr-19.1.31.2

Forcible Taking of Sold Goods and Competing Buyers

Passage 2797 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the seller's liability (transfer of actions and risk) when a thing under custody is taken by force, the scope of returning profits acquired through a slave, and the priority between double buyers who bought from a non-owner.

[NERATIUS libro tertio membranarum. ] §19.1.31.prSi ea res, quam ex empto praestare debebam, ui mihi adempta fuerit: quamuis eam custodire debuerim, tamen propius est, ut nihil amplius quam actiones persequendae eius praestari a me emptori oporteat, quia custodia aduersus uim parum proficit.
[NERATIUS, Scroll-leaves, Book III.] If the thing which I was bound to deliver under the purchase has been taken from me by force: although I ought to have guarded it, yet it is more reasonable that I should not be required to perform anything more for the buyer than to cede the actions for its recovery, because custody is of little avail against force.
actiones autem eas non solum arbitrio, sed etiam periculo tuo tibi praestare debebo, ut omne lucrum ac dispendium te sequatur.
However, I shall have to make those actions available to you not only at your direction but also at your risk, so that all gain and loss may fall upon you.
§19.1.31.1Et non solum quod ipse per eum adquisii praestare debeo, sed et id, quod emptor iam tunc sibi tradito seruo adquisiturus fuisset.
And I must deliver not only what I myself acquired through him, but also what the buyer would have acquired if the slave had already at that time been delivered to him.
§19.1.31.2Uterque nostrum eandem rem emit a non domino, cum emptio uenditioque sine dolo malo fieret, traditaque est: siue ab eodem emimus siue ab alio atque alio, is ex nobis tuendus est, qui prior ius eius adprehendit, hoc est, cui primum tradita est.
If each of us bought the same thing from a non-owner, while the purchase and sale took place without fraud, and it was delivered: whether we bought from the same person or from different persons, that one of us is to be protected who first acquired the right to it, that is, to whom it was first delivered.
si alter ex nobis a domino emisset, is omnimodo tuendus est.
If one of us had bought from the owner, he is to be protected in every way.

Notes

  1. 19.1.31.prpropius est, ut... oporteat — The clause beginning with 'ut' (ut... oporteat) serves as the subject of the impersonal expression 'propius est' (it is more reasonable / closer to the truth). This construction establishes that, even when there is a duty of custody (custodia), the seller cannot be required to perform anything more (nihil amplius... oporteat) against force than to yield the actions for recovery.
  2. 19.1.31.1sibi tradito seruo — This is an ablative absolute phrase expressing a condition ('if the slave had already at that time been delivered to him'). It corresponds to the active periphrastic subjunctive (adquisiturus fuisset) in the main clause, representing a past contrary-to-fact apodosis.
  3. 19.1.31.2cum emptio uenditioque sine dolo malo fieret — A circumstantial cum-clause with the imperfect subjunctive (fieret), describing the context in which both parties engaged in the transaction in good faith (without fraud).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.1.31.pr-19.1.31.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.1.31.pr-19.1.31.2

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