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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.14.55.pr

Agreements by Slaves Subject to Usufruct and the Usufructuary

Passage 421 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the effects that an agreement made by a slave, who is the object of a usufruct, has on the position and claims of the usufructuary when the debtor or creditor is the usufructuary.

[IULIANUS libro trigensimo quinto digestorum. ] §2.14.55.prSi debitor sit fructuarius et paciscatur seruus, in quo usum fructum habet, ne ab eo petatur: paciscendo meliorem condicionem eius facit.
[JULIAN in the thirty-fifth book of his Digests.] If a debtor is a usufructuary, and the slave in whom he has the usufruct makes an agreement that no claim be made against him: by making the agreement, he makes his condition better.
item si creditor esset fructuarius et pactus esset, ne peteret, seruus autem fructuarius pacisceretur, ut peteret: beneficio pacti, quod seruus interposuisset, utiliter ad petitionem admittetur.
Likewise, if a creditor were a usufructuary and had agreed not to make a claim, but the slave subject to the usufruct should make an agreement that he might claim: by virtue of the agreement which the slave had interposed, he will be effectively admitted to make the claim.

Notes

  1. §2.14.55.prne ab eo petatur — When the verb petere is accompanied by the preposition ab and the ablative, it means 'to demand (performance) from someone' (petere ab aliquo). Here, combined with the passive impersonal construction petatur, it means 'that no claim be made against him,' where eo refers to the debitor in the main clause.
  2. §2.14.55.prseruus fructuarius — The adjective fructuarius here does not mean that the slave himself holds a usufruct, but refers to 'the slave who is the object of the usufruct.' It is a restatement of seruus, in quo usum fructum habet from the first sentence.
  3. §2.14.55.pradmittetur — The subject of the verb admittetur (third-person singular future passive) is contextually the creditor introduced in the conditional clause. It signifies that although the creditor had agreed not to claim, because the slave entered into an agreement that a claim might be made, the creditor himself will be admitted to make the claim.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.14.55.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.14.55.pr

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