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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.2.58.pr-19.2.58.2

Rent Accrual on Sale, Completion Deadlines, and Bath Leases

Passage 2879 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the scope of rent accrual in the lease and sale of an entire apartment building, the reasonable determination of the period for completing work in a contract without a set deadline, and the relationship between claiming repair expenses and providing security in the lease of a public bath.

[LABEO libro quarto posteriorum a Iauoleno epitomatorum. ] §19.2.58.prInsulam uno pretio totam locasti et eam uendidisti ita, ut emptori mercedes inquilinorum accederent.
[LABEO, in the fourth book of his Posthumous Works epitomized by Javolenus.] You leased an entire apartment building for a single price and sold it on the condition that the rents of the tenants should accrue to the buyer.
quamuis eam conductor maiore pretio locaret, tamen id emptori accedit, quod tibi conductor debeat.
Even though the tenant leased it out at a higher price, nevertheless only that which the tenant owes to you accrues to the buyer.
§19.2.58.1In operis locatione non erat dictum, ante quam diem effici deberet: deinde, si ita factum non esset, quanti locatoris interfuisset, tantam pecuniam conductor promiserat.
In a lease for services, it had not been specified by what day the work ought to be completed; next, the contractor had promised to pay as much money as it would have been to the interest of the lessor, if it were not so completed.
eatenus eam obligationem contrahi puto, quatenus uir bonus de spatio temporis aestimasset, quia id actum apparet esse, ut eo spatio absolueretur, sine quo fieri non possit.
I think that this obligation is contracted only to the extent that a man of integrity would have estimated regarding the space of time, because it appears to have been agreed that it should be completed within that space of time without which it could not be done.
§19.2.58.2Quidam in municipio balineum praestandum annuis uiginti nummis conduxerat et ad refectionem fornacis fistularum similiumque rerum centum nummi ut praestarentur ei, conuenerat: conductor centum nummos petebat.
A certain person in a municipality had leased a public bath to be maintained for twenty sesterces annually, and it had been agreed that one hundred sesterces should be paid to him for the repair of the furnace, the pipes, and similar things; the tenant demanded the one hundred sesterces.
ita ei deberi dico, si in earum rerum refectionem eam pecuniam impendi satisdaret.
I say that it is thus due to him, if he should give security that this money would be expended on the repair of those things.

Notes

  1. 19.2.58.prmercedes inquilinorum — Here, inquilinorum (genitive plural of inquilinus, 'tenant') refers to the subtenants to whom the primary lessee (conductor) had sublet the individual rooms of the apartment building. Even though the sale agreement states that 'the rents of the tenants' accrue to the buyer, legally only the rent owed by the primary lessee under the original lease (quod tibi conductor debeat) is transferred to the buyer.
  2. 19.2.58.1quanti locatoris interfuisset — This is the construction of the impersonal verb interest ('it is of interest/importance to...'), which takes the genitive of the person concerned (locatoris) and the genitive of value (quanti). It refers to the pecuniary interest of the employer (locator) in having the work completed on time, i.e., the amount of damage suffered due to the delay.
  3. 19.2.58.1uir bonus — The concept of uir bonus ('a man of integrity' or 'good paterfamilias') is introduced as an objective standard to determine reasonably what space of time should have been allowed for completion when no specific deadline was set in the contract.
  4. 19.2.58.2balineum praestandum — The gerundive praestandum expresses purpose or obligation, meaning 'a public bath to be operated/provided.' It indicates that the lease involved not merely the passive use of the bathhouse but also the obligation to maintain and run it for public use, combining elements of a lease of a thing and a contract for services.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.2.58.pr-19.2.58.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.2.58.pr-19.2.58.2

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