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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.2.28.pr-19.2.28.2

Rent Liability for Damaged Houses and Substitute Dwelling Costs

Passage 2849 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Labeo's opinion is presented regarding the tenant's liability for rent and the standards for compensation depending on whether the tenant continued to use the damaged house or had to secure an alternative habitation.

[LABEO libro quarto posteriorum epitomatorum a Iauoleno. ] §19.2.28.prQuod si domi habitatione conductor aeque usus fuisset, §19.2.28.1praestaturum etiam eius domus mercedem, quae uitium fecisset, deberi putat.
[LABEO, Epitomes of the Posthumous Works by Iavolenus, book 4] But if the tenant had equally used the habitation of the house, he thinks that [the tenant] would pay the rent even for that house which had developed a defect, [and] that it is owed.
§19.2.28.2Idem iuris esse, si potestatem conducendi habebat, uti pretium conductionis praestaret.
The same rule of law applies, if he had the opportunity of renting [another house], so that he should pay the price of the lease.
sed si locator conductori potestatem conducendae domus non fecisset et is in qua habitaret conduxisset, tantum ei praestandum putat, quantum sine dolo malo praestitisset.
But if the landlord had not given the tenant the opportunity of renting a house, and the latter had rented one in which to live, he thinks that so much must be paid to him as he would have paid without bad faith.
ceterum si gratuitam habitationem habuisset, pro portione temporis ex locatione domus deducendum esse.
On the other hand, if he had a gratuitous habitation, a deduction must be made from the lease of the house in proportion to the time.

Notes

  1. 19.2.28.prdomi — domi is usually the locative of domus ('at home'), but here it functions as the genitive (an archaic or colloquial genitive form of domus) modifying habitatione (ablative), meaning 'habitation of the house.'
  2. 19.2.28.1praestaturum... deberi — Two grammatically different infinitive clauses are set in apposition or blended as objects of putat: praestaturum [esse] (future active infinitive with the omitted subject conductorem) and deberi (present passive infinitive with the subject mercedem).
  3. 19.2.28.2uti — Here uti is equivalent to the conjunction ut, introducing a substantive clause that explains the content of idem iuris esse (namely, that he should pay the price of the lease).
  4. 19.2.28.2tantum ei praestandum... quantum sine dolo malo praestitisset — The agent for the gerundive praestandum [esse] (which would be the landlord locator in the dative) is omitted, while ei refers to the recipient of the payment, i.e., the tenant (conductor).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.2.28.pr-19.2.28.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.2.28.pr-19.2.28.2

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