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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §19.5.9.pr

Remedies for Breach of Release Conditioned on Delegation

Passage 2896 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinianus discusses that when a person is released from a debt on the condition of delegating a claim against Titius but fails to perform, the old obligation is not restored; instead, an action for an uncertain amount lies to enforce the promise or seek condemnation.

[IDEM libro undecimo responsorum. ] §19.5.9.prOb eam causam accepto liberatus, ut nomen Titii debitoris delegaret, si fidem contractus non impleat, incerti actione tenebitur.
[THE SAME in the eleventh book of Responses.] A person who has been released by an acknowledgement of payment for the purpose of delegating the debt of Titius, his debtor, will, if he does not fulfill the good faith of the contract, be held liable by an action for an uncertain amount.
itaque iudicis officio non uetus obligatio restaurabitur, sed promissa praestabitur aut condemnatio sequetur.
Therefore, by the office of the judge, the old obligation will not be restored, but what was promised will be performed, or condemnation will follow.

Notes

  1. 19.5.9.praccepto liberatus — The participle liberatus (released) modifies the implied subject of the sentence (the subject of impleat and tenebitur). accepto is an ablative of means from acceptum (entry of receipt), referring to the formal release of debt by acknowledgement of payment (acceptilatio).
  2. 19.5.9.prpromissa — Although promissa is grammatically a neuter plural nominative (things promised), the verb praestabitur is in the singular. This mismatch may be due to the influence of the preceding singular uetus obligatio, or promissa might be treated here as a feminine singular noun (promise). In either case, the sense is passive: "that which was promised will be performed."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §19.5.9.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:19.5.9.pr

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