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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §20.4.19.pr

Payment by Dowry Land Possessor and Assignment of Actions

Passage 2982 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Regarding a pledged estate given as a dowry, when a creditor seeks to enforce his claim against the land rather than against the solvent heirs, this section discusses whether the creditor can be compelled to assign his rights of action upon an offer of payment by a lawful possessor.

[IDEM libro quinto responsorum. ] §20.4.19.prMulier in dotem dedit marito praedium pignori obligatum et testamento maritum et liberos ex eo natos, item ex alio heredes instituit: creditor cum posset heredes conuenire idoneos, ad fundum uenit: quaero, an, si ei iustus possessor offerat, compellendus sit ius nominis cedere.
[THE SAME, in his fifth book of Opinions.] A woman gave to her husband as a dowry a tract of land which was bound by a pledge, and by her will she appointed her husband and the children born of him, as well as those born of another husband, as her heirs. Although the creditor was able to sue the solvent heirs, he proceeded against the land. I ask whether, if a lawful possessor offers him payment, the creditor should be compelled to assign his rights of action.
respondi posse uideri non iniustum postulare.
I replied that it could seem that the possessor makes a demand which is not unjust.

Notes

  1. §20.4.19.prex alio — An ellipsis for ex alio marito ('from another husband'). In this context, it refers to the children the testatrix had with a previous or different husband, as opposed to the current husband.
  2. §20.4.19.prius nominis — Literally 'the right of the name', meaning 'the right of the debt' or 'rights of action'. In Roman law, nomen refers to a debt or claim. Here, it denotes the assignment of the creditor's rights against the debtor to the third-party possessor who offers to satisfy the debt.
  3. §20.4.19.prnon iniustum postulare — An accusative with infinitive construction where postulare is treated either as a substantivized infinitive acting as the subject of the implied verb esse ('to demand this is not unjust'), or with an implied subject accusative eum referring to the iustus possessor ('that the possessor makes a demand which is not unjust').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §20.4.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:20.4.19.pr

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