[IDEM libro trigesimo secundo ad edictum. ] §19.2.15.prEx conducto actio conductori datur.
[THE SAME, On the Edict, book 32] An action on the lease is given to the lessee.
§19.2.15.1Competit autem ex his causis fere: ut puta si re quam conduxit frui ei non liceat (forte quia possessio ei aut totius agri aut partis non praestatur, aut uilla non reficitur uel stabulum uel ubi greges eius stare oporteat) uel si quid in lege conductionis conuenit, si hoc non praestatur, ex conducto agetur.
And it lies, generally speaking, for the following causes: as, for instance, if he is not allowed to enjoy the property which he leased (perhaps because possession of either the whole land or a part is not provided to him, or the farmhouse, or the stable, or the place where his herds ought to stand is not repaired); or if anything agreed upon in the lease-contract is not provided, an action on the lease will be brought.
§19.2.15.2Si uis tempestatis calamitosae contigerit, an locator conductori aliquid praestare debeat, uideamus.
If the violence of a disastrous storm should occur, let us see whether the lessor ought to make any allowance to the lessee.
Seruius omnem uim, cui resisti non potest, dominum colono praestare debere ait, ut puta fluminum graculorum sturnorum et si quid simile acciderit, aut si incursus hostium fiat: si qua tamen uitia ex ipsa re oriantur, haec damno coloni esse, ueluti si uinum coacuerit, si raucis aut herbis segetes corruptae sint.
Servius says that the owner ought to make good to the tenant every force which cannot be resisted, as, for instance, that of rivers, jackdaws, starlings, and if anything similar should happen, or if an incursion of enemies should occur. If, however, any defects arise from the thing itself, these are to the loss of the tenant, as, for instance, if the wine should turn sour, or if the crops should be spoiled by caterpillars or weeds.
sed et si labes facta sit omnemque fructum tulerit, damnum coloni non esse, ne supra damnum seminis amissi mercedes agri praestare cogatur.
But also if a landslide should occur and carry away all the crop, this is not the loss of the tenant, lest he be compelled to pay the rent of the land in addition to the loss of the seed he has lost.
sed et si uredo fructum oleae corruperit aut solis feruore non adsueto id acciderit, damnum domini futurum: si uero nihil extra consuetudinem acciderit, damnum coloni esse.
But also if blight should spoil the olive crop, or if this should happen through unusual heat of the sun, the loss will be the owner's; but if nothing out of the ordinary has happened, the loss is the tenant's.
idemque dicendum, si exercitus praeteriens per lasciuiam aliquid abstulit.
And the same must be said if a passing army should carry off anything through wantonness.
sed et si ager terrae motu ita corruerit, ut nusquam sit, damno domini esse: oportere enim agrum praestari conductori, ut frui possit.
But also if the land should so collapse by an earthquake as to be nowhere, this is to the loss of the owner; for it is necessary that the land be provided to the lessee so that he can enjoy it.
§19.2.15.3Cum quidam incendium fundi allegaret et remissionem desideraret, ita ei rescriptum est: 'Si praedium coluisti, propter casum incendii repentini non immerito subueniendum tibi est. ' §19.2.15.4Papinianus libro quarto responsorum ait, si uno anno remissionem quis colono dederit ob sterilitatem, deinde sequentibus annis contigit uberitas, nihil obesse domino remissionem, sed integram pensionem etiam eius anni quo remisit exigendam.
When a certain person alleged a fire on the land and requested a remission of rent, he received this rescript: "If you have cultivated the estate, it is not without reason that relief should be granted to you on account of the accident of a sudden fire." Papinianus, in the fourth book of his Opinions, says that if anyone has granted a remission to a tenant in one year on account of barrenness, and thereafter in the following years abundance should occur, the remission does not prejudice the owner, but the full rent even of that year in which he remitted it must be demanded.
hoc idem et in uectigalis damno respondit.
He gave the same opinion also in the case of a loss of rent-charge.
sed et si uerbo donationis dominus ob sterilitatem anni remiserit, idem erit dicendum, quasi non sit donatio, sed transactio.
But also if the owner, under the term of a donation, should remit it on account of the barrenness of the year, the same must be said, as if it were not a donation, but a compromise.
quid tamen, si nouissimus erat annus sterilis, in quo ei remiserit? uerius dicetur et si superiores uberes fuerunt et scit locator, non debere eum ad computationem uocari.
What, however, if the barren year in which he granted the remission was the very last year? The more correct view to be stated is that, even if the preceding years were abundant and the lessor knows it, he ought not to be called to an accounting.
§19.2.15.5Cum quidam de fructuum exiguitate quereretur, non esse rationem eius habendam rescripto diui Antonini continetur.
When a certain person complained of the scantiness of the crops, it was contained in a rescript of the Divine Antoninus that no account should be taken of it.
item alio rescripto ita continetur: 'Nouam rem desideras, ut propter uetustatem uinearum remissio tibi detur. ' §19.2.15.6Item cum quidam naue amissa uecturam, quam pro mutua acceperat, repeteretur, rescriptum est ab Antonino Augusto non immerito procuratorem Caesaris ab eo uecturam repetere, cum munere uehendi functus non sit: quod in omnibus personis similiter obseruandum est.
Likewise, in another rescript, it is contained as follows: "You desire an unprecedented thing, in asking that a remission be granted to you on account of the old age of the vineyards." Likewise, when a certain person, his ship having been lost, was sued for the return of the freight money which he had received as an advance, it was replied by Antoninus Augustus that the procurator of Caesar not without reason demanded back the freight money from him, since he had not performed the duty of carrying; which is to be observed similarly in the case of all persons.
§19.2.15.7Ubicumque tamen remissionis ratio habetur ex causis supra relatis, non id quod sua interest conductor consequitur, sed mercedis exonerationem pro rata: supra denique damnum seminis ad colonum pertinere declaratur.
Wherever, however, account is taken of a remission for the causes reported above, the lessee does not obtain his full interest, but a discharge of the rent pro rata; finally, it is declared above that the loss of the seed belongs to the tenant.
§19.2.15.8Plane si forte dominus frui non patiatur, uel cum ipse locasset uel cum alius alienum uel quasi procurator uel quasi suum, quod interest praestabitur: et ita Proculus in procuratore respondit.
Clearly, if by chance the owner does not allow the enjoyment of the property, whether because he himself leased it, or because another leased another's property either as a procurator or as if it were his own, the full interest will be made good; and Proculus gave this opinion in the case of a procurator.
§19.2.15.9Interdum ad hoc ex locato agetur, ut quis locatione liberetur, Iulianus libro quinto decimo digestorum scribsit.
Sometimes an action on the lease will be brought for this purpose, namely, that one may be released from the lease, as Julianus wrote in the fifteenth book of his Digests.
ut puta Titio fundum locaui isque pupillo herede instituto decessit et, cum tutor constituisset abstinere pupillum hereditate, ego fundum pluris locaui: deinde pupillus restitutus est in bona paterna.
For example, I leased a land to Titius, and he died having appointed a pupillus as his heir; and since the tutor had decided that the pupillus should abstain from the inheritance, I leased the land for a higher rent; thereafter the pupillus was restored to his father's estate.
ex conducto nihil amplius eum consecuturum, quam ut locatione liberetur: mihi enim iusta causa fuit locandi,
By an action on the lease he will obtain nothing more than to be released from the lease; for I had a just cause for leasing.