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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §20.5.9.pr-20.5.9.1

Debtor Liability for Unpaid Price and Remaining Debt

Passage 2993 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage discusses the liability of the debtor when the creditor fails to recover the price of the pledge from the buyer, and the superfluity of adding agreements regarding the payment of the remaining debt in case of a shortfall.

[PAULUS libro tertio quaestionum. ] §20.5.9.prQuaesitum est, si creditor ab emptore pignoris pretium seruare non potuisset, an debitor liberatus esset.
[PAULUS from the third book of Questions.] A question was raised whether, if the creditor had been unable to recover the price of the pledge from the buyer, the debtor would be released.
putaui, si nulla culpa imputari creditori possit, manere debitorem obligatum, quia ex necessitate facta uenditio non liberat debitorem nisi pecunia percepta.
I thought that, if no fault can be imputed to the creditor, the debtor remains obligated, because a sale made out of necessity does not release the debtor unless the money has been received.
§20.5.9.1Pomponius autem lectionum libro secundo ita scripsit: quod in pignoribus dandis adici solet, ut, quo minus pignus uenisset, reliquum debitor redderet, superuacuum est, quia ipso iure ita se res habet etiam non adiecto eo.
Pomponius, however, wrote as follows in the second book of Readings: that which is usually added when giving pledges, namely, that the debtor should return the remainder in case the pledge should be sold for less, is superfluous, because by operation of law the matter is so even if it is not added.

Notes

  1. §20.5.9.prseruare — The verb seruare is used here not in the sense of "to preserve" or "to keep safe", but "to secure" or "to recover" the purchase price from the buyer.
  2. §20.5.9.1uenisset — uenisset is the subjunctive pluperfect not of uenio (to come), but of the semi-passive verb ueneo (to be sold). Together with quo minus, it carries the conditional meaning "if [the pledge] should be sold for less [than the debt]."
  3. §20.5.9.1non adiecto eo — An ablative absolute construction used with the particle etiam. The neuter pronoun eo refers to the agreement (added clause) expressed by the preceding ut clause, which states that the debtor should pay the remaining shortfall.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §20.5.9.pr-20.5.9.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:20.5.9.pr-20.5.9.1

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