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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.2.60.pr-19.2.60.9

Allocation of Liability for Obstacles and Negligence in Hire

Passage 2881 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk presents juristic opinions, particularly Labeo's, on the allocation of liability and duties between parties in various contracts of letting and hiring, including lease of houses, slave hire, and carriage transportation under unexpected circumstances.

[LABEO posteriorum libro quinto a Iauoleno epitomatorum. ] §19.2.60.prCum in plures annos domus locata est, praestare locator debet, ut non solum habitare conductor ex calendis illis cuiusque anni, sed etiam locare habitatori si uelit suo tempore possit.
[LABEO, in the fifth book of his Posthumous Works, epitomized by Javolenus.] When a house is leased for several years, the lessor must guarantee that the lessee is not only able to inhabit it from the specified date of each year, but also to sublet it to an inhabitant during his own term if he wishes.
itaque si ea domus ex kalendis Ianuariis fulta in kalendis Iuniis permansisset, ita ut nec habitare quisquam nec ostendere alicui posset, nihil locatori conductorem praestaturum, adeo ut nec cogi quidem posset ex kalendis Iuliis refecta domu habitare, nisi si paratus fuisset locator commodam domum ei ad habitandum dare.
Therefore, if that house had remained supported by props from the first of January until the first of June, so that no one could either inhabit it or show it to anyone, the lessee would owe nothing to the lessor, to such an extent that he could not even be compelled to inhabit the house when repaired from the first of July, unless the lessor had been prepared to give him another suitable house to inhabit.
§19.2.60.1Heredem coloni, quamuis colonus non est, nihilo minus domino possidere existimo.
I consider that the heir of a tenant farmer, although he is not himself the tenant farmer, nevertheless possesses on behalf of the owner.
§19.2.60.2Uestimenta tua fullo perdidit et habes unde petas nec repetere uis: agis nihilo minus ex locato cum fullone, sed iudicem aestimaturum, an possis aduersus furem magis agere et ab eo tuas res consequi fullonis uidelicet sumptibus: sed si hoc tibi impossibile esse perspexerit, tunc fullonem quidem tibi condemnabit, tuas autem actiones te ei praestare compellet.
A fuller has lost your clothes, and you have someone from whom to claim them but do not wish to recover them: nevertheless, you bring an action on the lease against the fuller; but the judge will consider whether you could rather bring an action against the thief and recover your property from him, obviously at the expense of the fuller. But if he perceives that this is impossible for you, then indeed he will condemn the fuller to pay you, but will compel you to yield your actions to him.
§19.2.60.3Lege dicta domus facienda locata erat ita, ut probatio aut improbatio locatoris aut heredis eius esset: redemptor ex uoluntate locatoris quaedam in opere permutauerat.
By a specified term, a house was contracted to be built in such a way that its approval or disapproval lay with the lessor or his heir; the contractor, in accordance with the will of the lessor, had altered certain things in the work.
respondi opus quidem ex lege dicta non uideri factum, sed quoniam ex uoluntate locatoris permutatum esset, redemptorem absolui debere.
I answered that the work indeed does not appear to have been done according to the specified term, but since the alteration was made in accordance with the will of the lessor, the contractor ought to be discharged.
§19.2.60.4Mandaui tibi, ut excuteres, quanti uillam aedificare uelles: renuntiasti mihi ducentorum impensam excutere: certa mercede opus tibi locaui, postea comperi non posse minoris trecentorum eam uillam constare: data autem tibi erant centum, ex quibus partem impendisses, uetui te opus facere.
I commissioned you to estimate for how much you would be willing to build a villa; you reported to me that you estimated an expense of two hundred. I contracted the work to you for a fixed price, and later I discovered that the villa could not cost less than three hundred; but one hundred had already been given to you, out of which you had spent a part, and I forbade you to proceed with the work.
dixi, si opus facere perseueraueris, ex locato tecum agere, ut pecuniae mihi reliquum restituas.
I said that if you persisted in doing the work, I could bring an action on the contract against you to make you restore the remainder of the money to me.
§19.2.60.5Messem inspiciente colono, cum alienam esse non ignorares, sustulisti.
While the tenant farmer was looking on, you carried away the harvest, although you were not ignorant that it belonged to another.
condicere tibi frumentum dominum posse Labeo ait, et ut id faciat, colonum ex conducto cum domino acturum.
Labeo says that the owner can claim the grain from you by personal action, and that, in order for the owner to do so, the tenant farmer will bring an action on the lease against the owner.
§19.2.60.6Locator horrei propositum habuit se aurum argentum margaritam non recipere suo periculo: deinde cum sciret has res inferri, passus est.
The lessor of a warehouse posted a notice that he would not receive gold, silver, or pearls at his own risk; then, although he knew these things were being brought in, he permitted it.
proinde eum futurum tibi obligatum dixi, ac si propositum fuit, remissum uidetur.
Therefore, I said that he would be liable to you, for even if there had been a notice, it is deemed to have been waived.
§19.2.60.7Seruum meum mulionem conduxisti: neglegentia eius mulus tuus periit.
You hired my slave who is a muleteer; through his negligence, your mule died.
si ipse se locasset, ex peculio dumtaxat et in rem uersum damnum tibi praestaturum dico: sin autem ipse eum locassem, non ultra me tibi praestaturum, quam dolum malum et culpam meam abesse: quod si sine definitione personae mulionem a me conduxisti et ego eum tibi dedissem, cuius neglegentia iumentum perierit, illam quoque culpam me tibi praestaturum aio, quod eum elegissem, qui eiusmodi damno te adficeret.
If he hired himself out, I say that he will make good the loss to you only to the extent of his peculium and what has turned to my advantage; but if I myself had hired him out, I would not make good to you anything beyond the absence of willful deceit and negligence on my part. But if you hired a muleteer from me without specifying the individual, and I had given you one through whose negligence the beast of burden died, I say that I will also make good that negligence to you, because I chose someone who would cause you such damage.
§19.2.60.8Uehiculum conduxisti, ut onus tuum portaret et secum iter faceret: id cum pontem transiret, redemptor eius pontis portorium ab eo exigebat: quaerebatur, an etiam pro ipsa sola reda portorium daturus fuerit.
You hired a carriage to carry your load and to travel with you; when it was crossing a bridge, the contractor of that bridge demanded toll from him. The question was raised whether a toll was also to be paid for the carriage itself alone.
puto, si mulio non ignorauit ea se transiturum, cum uehiculum locaret, mulionem praestare debere.
I think that if the muleteer was not ignorant that he would cross there when he leased the carriage, the muleteer ought to pay it.
§19.2.60.9Rerum custodiam, quam horrearius conductoribus praestare deberet, locatorem totorum horreorum horreario praestare non debere puto, nisi si in locando aliter conuenerit.
I think that the lessor of the whole warehouse does not have to guarantee to the warehouseman the custody of goods which the warehouseman ought to guarantee to his tenants, unless it was otherwise agreed upon in the lease.

Notes

  1. 19.2.60.prnihil locatori conductorem praestaturum — The future infinitive praestaturum represents praestaturum esse with the ellipsis of esse, forming the main clause of an accusative with infinitive construction (indirect speech) dependent on an implied verb of saying or thinking. It indicates that the lessee owes nothing to the lessor.
  2. 19.2.60.1domino possidere — "to possess on behalf of the owner." This indicates that the heir of the tenant farmer, though not himself a tenant, is deemed to hold natural possession (possessio alieno nomine) on behalf of the owner, maintaining the owner's legal possession.
  3. 19.2.60.2an possis aduersus furem magis agere — An indirect question clause introduced by an, dependent on iudicem aestimaturum [esse]. It shows that the judge will evaluate whether the plaintiff (the owner of the clothes) should rather bring an action (such as actio furti) against the thief instead of directly suing the fuller.
  4. 19.2.60.4ex locato tecum agere — The infinitive agere stands in an accusative with infinitive construction introduced by dixi, with the subject accusative me being omitted. It forms the apodosis corresponding to the conditional clause si... perseveraveris.
  5. 19.2.60.7ex peculio dumtaxat et in rem uersum — A technical legal formula referring to the limited liability of a master for his slave's acts (actio de peculio et de in rem verso). The master is liable only to the extent of the slave's peculium and any enrichment that accrued to the master's own estate.
  6. 19.2.60.7non ultra me tibi praestaturum, quam dolum malum et culpam meam abesse — The structure non ultra ... quam [ut] ... abesse establishes that the owner of the slave is not liable beyond the absence of his own dolus or culpa. It highlights the principle of fault-based liability, meaning the master is not liable for the slave's negligence unless the master himself committed dolus or culpa in selecting or supervising the slave.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.2.60.pr-19.2.60.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.2.60.pr-19.2.60.9

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