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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.1.9.pr

Master's Liability for Damage to the Album by Multiple Slaves

Passage 248 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses a case where multiple slaves damage the praetor's album, explaining that unlike in theft, paying for one slave does not exempt the master from liability for the rest because it is treated as multiple acts, though an exception is allowed for a single, joint conspiracy using a third party.

[PAULUS libro tertio ad edictum. ] §2.1.9.prSi familia alicuius album corruperit, non similiter hic edicitur ut in furto, ne in reliquos actio detur, si tantum dominus, cum defendere uoluit, unius nomine praestiterit, quantum liber praestaret: fortasse quia hic et contempta maiestas praetoris uindicatur et plura facta intelleguntur: quemadmodum cum plures serui iniuriam fecerunt uel damnum dederunt, quia plura facta sunt, non ut in furto unum.
If anyone's household of slaves damages the album, the edict here is not issued in the same way as in the case of theft, so that an action is not granted against the remaining slaves if the master, when wishing to defend them, has paid on behalf of one slave as much as a free person would pay; perhaps because in this case both the affronted majesty of the praetor is vindicated and multiple acts are understood to have occurred, just as when several slaves have committed an injury or caused damage, because multiple acts have occurred, not a single one as in the case of theft.
Octauenus hic quoque domino succurrendum ait: sed hoc potest dici, si dolo malo curauerint, ut ab alio album corrumperetur, quia tunc unum consilium sit, non plura facta.
Octavenus says that here too the master should be assisted; but this can be said if they have maliciously arranged for the album to be damaged by someone else, because in that case there is a single plan, not multiple acts.
idem Pomponius libro decimo notat.
Pomponius notes the same in his tenth book.

Notes

  1. §2.1.9.prne in reliquos actio detur — This purpose/consequence clause introduced by ne describes the rule applicable in the case of theft (i.e., "that an action is not granted against the remaining slaves"), and depends on non similiter hic edicitur ("it is not similarly declared here"), meaning that in album damage, the master does not escape joint liability by paying for only one slave.
  2. §2.1.9.prquantum liber praestaret — The imperfect subjunctive praestaret expresses a counterfactual assumption within a comparative clause: "as much as [the offender] would pay, if he were a free person."
  3. §2.1.9.prsi dolo malo curauerint, ut ab alio album corrumperetur — The verb curauerint (perfect subjunctive in the conditional clause) governs the ut clause (imperfect subjunctive corrumperetur) to mean "to maliciously arrange or cause that the album be damaged by another person."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.1.9.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.1.9.pr

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