Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.2.62.pr

Allocation of Risk for Canal Collapse Before Approval

Passage 2883 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Labeo states that if a canal constructed by a contractor is destroyed by a landslide before approval, the risk is on the contractor, but Paulus qualifies this by arguing that the employer bears the risk if the cause is a defect in the soil, whereas the contractor bears the loss if it is due to a defect in the work.

[LABEO libro primo pithanorum. ] §19.2.62.prSi riuum, quem faciendum conduxeras et feceras, antequam eum probares, labes corrumpit, tuum periculum est.

[LABEO, in the first book of his Pithana.] If a landslide destroys a canal which you had undertaken to construct and had constructed, before you could have it approved, the risk is yours.

PAULUS: immo si soli uitio id accidit, locatoris erit periculum, si operis uitio accidit, tuum erit detrimentum.

PAULUS: Nay, if this happened through a defect in the soil, the risk will be the employer's; if it happened through a defect in the work, the loss will be yours.

Notes

§19.2.62.prprobares — While the verb probare generally means "to approve" or "to test", when the contractor (here, the second person singular) is the subject, it means "to have the work approved by the employer" or "to pass inspection".
§19.2.62.prlocatoris — In the Roman contract of hire of work (locatio conductio operis), the employer who places the work is called the locator, whereas the contractor who undertakes the work is the conductor (the subject of conduxeras). Therefore, locatoris means "of the employer".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.2.62.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.2.62.pr

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