Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.5.18.pr

Action on Prescribed Words for Unreturned Conditional Deposit

Passage 2905 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that if money is deposited with a third party to be delivered to a slave-catcher upon retrieving a runaway slave, but the condition is not met and the depositary refuses to return the money, an action on prescribed words is the appropriate remedy because it does not constitute a deposit with a stakeholder.

[IDEM libro trigesimo ad edictum. ] §19.5.18.prSi apud te pecuniam deposuerim, ut dares Titio, si fugitiuum meum reduxisset, nec dederis, quia non reduxit: si pecuniam mihi non reddas, melius est praescriptis uerbis agere: non enim ambo pecuniam ego et fugitiuarius deposuimus, ut quasi apud sequestrem sit depositum.
[THE SAME, in the thirtieth book on the Edict.] If I have deposited money with you, so that you should give it to Titius if he brought back my runaway slave, and you have not given it because he did not bring him back: if you do not return the money to me, it is better to sue on prescribed words; for we did not both deposit the money, I and the runaway-slave catcher, so that it should be, as it were, a deposit with a stakeholder.

Notes

  1. §19.5.18.prsi fugitiuum meum reduxisset — A conditional clause embedded within the purpose clause `ut dares`. The pluperfect subjunctive `reduxisset` represents a future-perfect relation to the past action of giving, establishing the condition 'should he have brought back the slave'.
  2. §19.5.18.prnon enim ambo pecuniam ego et fugitiuarius deposuimus — Indicates that since both the depositor ('myself') and the prospective recipient upon fulfillment of the condition ('the runaway-slave catcher', Titius) did not deposit the money, it does not constitute a joint deposit with a stakeholder (sequestrium). As it is also not a standard deposit, an action on prescribed words for breach of an innominate contract is the appropriate remedy.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.5.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.5.18.pr

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