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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.8.5.pr-2.8.5.1

Surety Liability after Judgment and Injury from Rejecting Sureties

Passage 307 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the liability of a surety when the condemned debtor dies or loses citizenship, and the availability of an action for injury if a plaintiff wrongfully rejects a qualified surety and drags the debtor to court.

[GAIUS libro primo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §2.8.5.prSi uero pro condemnato fideiusserit et condemnatus decesserit aut ciuitatem Romanam amiserit, recte nihilo minus cum fideiussore eius agetur.
[GAIUS, in the first book on the Provincial Edict.] But if someone has become a surety for a person already condemned, and the condemned person dies or loses Roman citizenship, an action can nevertheless be properly brought against his surety.
§2.8.5.1Qui pro rei qualitate euidentissime locupletem uel, si dubitetur, adprobatum fideiussorem iudicio sistendi causa non acceperit: iniuriarum actio aduersus eum esse potest, quia sane non quaelibet iniuria est duci in ius eum, qui satis idoneum fideiussorem det.
If a person, in view of the nature of the case, does not accept a surety who is most obviously solvent or, if there is doubt, is proved to be so, for the purpose of appearing in court, an action for injury can be brought against him; because it is indeed no minor injury for a person to be dragged into court who offers a sufficiently suitable surety.
sed et ipse fideiussor, qui non sit acceptus, tamquam de iniuria sibi facta queri poterit.
Moreover, even the surety himself who was not accepted can complain as if an injury had been done to him.

Notes

  1. 2.8.5.prrecte nihilo minus cum fideiussore eius agetur — agetur is the third-person singular future passive of ago, used impersonally here to mean "an action will be brought." eius is the genitive pronoun referring to the preceding condemnatus (the condemned person).
  2. 2.8.5.1Qui pro rei qualitate ... non acceperit — The relative clause Qui ... non acceperit, with its antecedent (such as is) omitted, stands at the beginning of the sentence and functions essentially as a conditional clause ("If anyone does not accept..."). The pronoun eum in the main clause's aduersus eum refers to the implied antecedent of Qui.
  3. 2.8.5.1non quaelibet iniuria — Literally meaning "not just any injury," this is an instance of litotes (understatement), expressing a strong positive sense: "a very significant (no small) injury."
  4. 2.8.5.1duci in ius eum — duci is the present passive infinitive, forming an accusative-and-infinitive construction with the accusative eum (and its relative clause qui...det) as its subject. This entire phrase serves as the subject of iniuria est ("for him to be dragged into court").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.8.5.pr-2.8.5.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.8.5.pr-2.8.5.1

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