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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §20.6.13.pr

Extinction of Pledge by Debtor's Oath or Judicial Acquittal

Passage 3012 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that the pledge is released if the debtor swears that he is not bound to pay upon the creditor's referral of the oath, or if the debtor is acquitted by a judge, even if unjustly.

[TRYPHONINUS libro octauo disputationum. ] §20.6.13.prSi deferente creditore iurauit debitor se dare non oportere, pignus liberatur, quia perinde habetur, atque si iudicio absolutus esset: nam et si a iudice quamuis per iniuriam absolutus sit debitor, tamen pignus liberatur.
[TRYPHONINUS in the eighth book of his Disputations.] If, upon the creditor deferring the oath, the debtor has sworn that he is not bound to pay, the pledge is released, because it is held in the same light as if he had been acquitted in a trial; for even if the debtor has been acquitted by a judge, albeit unjustly, nevertheless the pledge is released.

Notes

  1. §20.6.13.prdeferente creditore — An ablative absolute phrase consisting of the present participle deferente and the noun creditore. Here deferre refers to the referral of an oath (delatio iurisiurandi) in Roman law, where one party challenges the other to take an oath to resolve a dispute.
  2. §20.6.13.prse dare non oportere — An accusative with infinitive (AcI) clause serving as the object of iurauit. The impersonal verb oportere takes the accusative pronoun se (referring to the debtor) and the infinitive dare (to give, to pay) as its subject, meaning 'that he is not bound to pay'.
  3. §20.6.13.prquamuis per iniuriam — The conjunction quamuis directly modifies the prepositional phrase per iniuriam, expressing a concession ('although unjustly', 'even if by injustice'). It emphasizes the principle that even if the judgment itself is legally erroneous (unjust), the debt (and consequently the pledge) is extinguished by the force of the judgment.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §20.6.13.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:20.6.13.pr

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