Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.11.13.pr

Incapacity of Slaves to Sue and Void Appearance Stipulations

Passage 340 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author argues that since a slave lacks the capacity to be a party to a lawsuit, any stipulations or suretyships made regarding their production in court are void.

[IULIANUS libro quinquagensimo quinto digestorum. ] §2.11.13.prQuotiens seruus iudicio sistendi causa ut ipse litigaturus uel ab alio stipulatur uel ipse promittit: nec committitur stipulatio nec fideiussores tenentur, quia seruus conueniri uel conuenire non potest.
[JULIANUS, Digest, book 55] Whenever a slave, with a view to being produced in court as if he himself were about to litigate, either stipulates with another or himself promises: neither is the stipulation forfeited, nor are the sureties bound, because a slave can neither be sued nor sue.

Notes

  1. §2.11.13.priudicio sistendi causa — iudicio is a dative ("in court", "for trial") modifying the genitive gerund sistendi (from sistere, "to produce"). Combined with causa (+ genitive), it expresses purpose: "for the purpose of being produced in court".
  2. §2.11.13.prut ipse litigaturus — The conjunction ut here means "as if" (expressing a hypothetical assumption), taking the future active participle litigaturus (agreeing with the subject seruus) to indicate an assumption contrary to the legal fact (since a slave cannot litigate).
  3. §2.11.13.prcommittitur — When the verb committere has stipulatio (stipulation, verbal contract) as its subject, it is used in a technical legal sense meaning "to be forfeited" or "to be incurred/triggered" (i.e., the condition of the penal stipulation is fulfilled, making the penalty payable).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.11.13.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.11.13.pr

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