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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.1.40.pr

Remedies for Refusal to Deliver Sold Standing Trees

Passage 2806 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In response to Quintus Mucius's inquiry regarding the buyer's remedy when a seller refuses to deliver sold standing trees, Pomponius explains that because standing trees are not separate from the land, the buyer cannot bring a claim for vindication as owner, but must sue on the contract of purchase.

[POMPONIUS libro trigesimo primo ad Quintum Mucium. ] §19.1.40.prQuintus Mucius scribit: dominus fundi de praedio arbores stantes uendiderat et pro his rebus pecuniam accepit et tradere nolebat: emptor quaerebat, quid se facere oporteret, et uerebatur, ne hae arbores eius non uiderentur factae.
[POMPONIUS, Book XXXI on Quintus Mucius.] Quintus Mucius writes: the owner of an estate had sold standing trees from the land, received money for these things, and was unwilling to deliver them; the buyer asked what he ought to do, and feared lest these trees might not seem to have become his.
POMPONIUS: arborum, quae in fundo continentur, non est separatum corpus a fundo et ideo ut dominus suas specialiter arbores uindicare emptor non poterit: sed ex empto habet actionem.
POMPONIUS: the body of trees which are contained in an estate is not separate from the estate, and therefore the buyer will not be able to vindicate the trees specifically as his own as owner; but he has an action on purchase.

Notes

  1. §19.1.40.preius ... factae — The genitive eius is a genitive of possession, combined with the participle factae (from fieri) to mean "to become his (property)." In the ne-clause introduced by uerebatur, the buyer fears that ownership of the trees might not be seen as having passed to him.
  2. §19.1.40.prnon est separatum corpus a fundo — This refers to the state in which standing trees are organically integrated with the land and have not become separate movable property. This unity of the fixture and the real property is the reason why a separate proprietary claim based on ownership is barred.
  3. §19.1.40.prut dominus suas specialiter arbores uindicare — uindicare is used here in its technical sense of bringing an action for ownership (rei uindicatio). Since the trees are still part of the land, the buyer cannot claim them as owner (ut dominus) by vindication, but must bring a contractual claim (ex empto) instead.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.1.40.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.1.40.pr

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