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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.2.2.pr-19.2.2.1

Affinity between Letting and Sale and the Material Test

Passage 2823 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains the close affinity between letting/hiring and sale/purchase, noting that both are contracted by consent (on rent or price). It discusses a borderline case where a craftsman makes an object from his own materials versus when the materials are provided by the client.

[GAIUS libro secundo rerum cottidianarum. ] §19.2.2.prLocatio et conductio proxima est emptioni et uenditioni isdemque iuris regulis constitit: nam ut emptio et uenditio ita contrahitur, si de pretio conuenerit, sic et locatio et conductio contrahi intellegitur, si de mercede conuenerit.
[GAIUS, Everyday Matters, book two.] Letting and hiring is very close to sale and purchase and rests on the same legal rules: for just as sale and purchase is contracted if there is agreement on the price, so too letting and hiring is understood to be contracted if there is agreement on the rent.
§19.2.2.1Adeo autem familiaritatem aliquam habere uidentur emptio et uenditio, item locatio et conductio, ut in quibusdam quaeri soleat, utrum emptio et uenditio sit an locatio et conductio.
Moreover, sale and purchase, and likewise letting and hiring, seem to have such a close affinity that in certain cases it is commonly asked whether it is sale and purchase or letting and hiring.
ut ecce si cum aurifice mihi conuenerit, ut is ex auro suo anulos mihi faceret certi ponderis certaeque formae et acceperit uerbi gratia trecenta, utrum emptio et uenditio sit, an locatio et conductio? sed placet unum esse negotium et magis emptionem et uenditionem esse.
As, for example, if I agree with a goldsmith that he should make rings for me out of his own gold of a certain weight and a certain shape, and he receives, for instance, three hundred, is it sale and purchase or letting and hiring? But it is held that it is a single transaction and is rather sale and purchase.
quod si ego aurum dedero mercede pro opera constituta, dubium non est, quin locatio et conductio sit.
If, on the other hand, I provide the gold and a rent is established for the work, there is no doubt that it is letting and hiring.

Notes

  1. 19.2.2.prconstitit — Perfect indicative of `consistere` (to consist of, rest upon), or a variant of `constat` (it is established). Taking the ablative `isdem iuris regulis` (on the same legal rules), it denotes an established state: 'rests upon' or 'consists of'.
  2. 19.2.2.1ut is ex auro suo anulos mihi faceret — A substantive `ut`-clause with the subjunctive imperfect `faceret`, expressing the content of the agreement introduced by the impersonal conditional clause `si cum aurifice mihi conuenerit` (if I should come to an agreement with a goldsmith).
  3. 19.2.2.1sed placet unum esse negotium — An accusative and infinitive (AcI) construction serving as the subject of the impersonal verb `placet` (it is held, it is the accepted view). The subject accusative is `unum negotium` (that it is a single transaction) with the infinitive `esse`. The subsequent clause `magis emptionem et uenditionem esse` is also dependent on `placet`.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.2.2.pr-19.2.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.2.2.pr-19.2.2.1

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