Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.14.9.pr-2.14.9.2

Counting of Joint Creditors and Calculation of Claims

Passage 375 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text explains the rule that multiple action-holders or tutors are treated as a single creditor, and states that the calculation of the debt amount includes the sum of small individual claims and interest.

[PAULUS libro sexagensimo secundo ad edictum. ] §2.14.9.prSi plures sint qui eandem actionem habent, unius loco habentur.

[PAULUS, On the Edict, book 62] If there are several persons who have the same action, they are regarded as in the place of one.

ut puta plures sunt rei stipulandi uel plures argentarii, quorum nomina simul facta sunt: unius loco numerabuntur, quia unum debitum est.

For example, if there are several joint stipulators or several bankers whose ledger entries were made at the same time, they will be counted in the place of one, because there is only one debt.

et cum tutores pupilli creditoris plures conuenissent, unius loco numerantur, quia unius pupilli nomine conuenerant.

And when several tutors of a ward who is a creditor have agreed, they are counted in the place of one, because they agreed in the name of one ward.

nec non et unus tutor plurium pupillorum nomine unum debitum praetendentium si conuenerit, placuit unius loco esse.

Likewise, if a single tutor has agreed in the name of several wards who claim one and the same debt, it has been decided that he is in the place of one.

nam difficile est, ut unus homo duorum uicem sustineat.

For it is difficult for one man to sustain the part of two.

nam nec is, qui plures actiones habet, aduersus eum, qui unam actionem habet, plurium personarum loco accipitur.

For neither is he who has several actions accepted in the place of several persons against him who has only one action.

§2.14.9.1Cumulum debiti et ad plures summas referemus, si uni forte minutae summae centum aureorum debeantur, alii uero una summa aureorum quinquaginta: nam in hunc casum spectabimus summas plures, quia illae excedunt in unam summam coadunatae.

We shall also refer the total amount of the debt to several sums, if, for instance, several small sums totaling one hundred aurei are owed to one person, but to another a single sum of fifty aurei. For in this case we shall look at the several sums, because, when combined into one sum, they exceed the other.

§2.14.9.2Summae autem applicare debemus etiam usuras.

Moreover, we must also add the interest to the principal sum.

Notes

2.14.9.prnomina simul facta sunt — The term 'nomina' (plural of 'nomen') refers to ledger entries or book debts in Roman accounting (codex). The phrase 'nomina facere' is a legal idiom meaning 'to create a debt by entry in a ledger'. Here it refers to the situation where several bankers have recorded the same debt simultaneously.
2.14.9.prunus tutor plurium pupillorum nomine unum debitum praetendentium si conuenerit — Syntactical structure: Within the conditional clause 'si conuenerit' (with 'unus tutor' as subject), the genitive phrase 'plurium pupillorum...praetendentium' (present participle modifying 'pupillorum') depends on 'nomine' ('in the name of'). It describes a single tutor agreeing on behalf of multiple wards claiming a single debt. The subject of the main impersonal verb 'placuit' is the accusative-with-infinitive clause '[eum] unius loco esse'.
2.14.9.1minutae summae — The phrase 'minutae summae' is in the nominative plural, serving as the subject of the passive verb 'debeantur'. 'centum aureorum' is a genitive modifying 'summae'. It means 'several small sums totaling one hundred aurei', referring to multiple minor claims that combine to that amount.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.14.9.pr-2.14.9.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.14.9.pr-2.14.9.2

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