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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §20.6.3.pr

Pledge of Property Sold under Resolutive Conditions

Passage 3001 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian presents Marcellus's opinion that if a thing sold under the condition of a better offer within a deadline is pledged, the pledge is terminated upon a better offer; however, the pledge is not terminated if the sale was conditioned on the buyer's dissatisfaction.

[ULPIANUS libro octauo disputationum. ] §20.6.3.prSi res distracta fuerit sic, nisi intra certum diem meliorem condicionem inuenisset, fueritque tradita et forte emptor, antequam melior condicio offerretur, hanc rem pignori dedisset, Marcellus libro quinto digestorum ait finiri pignus, si melior condicio fuerit allata, quamquam, ubi sic res distracta est, nisi emptori displicuisset, pignus finiri non putet.
[ULPIAN, book 8 of Disputations.] If a thing has been sold on the condition that "unless a better term is found within a certain day," and it has been delivered, and perchance the buyer, before a better term was offered, had given this thing in pledge, Marcellus in the fifth book of his Digests says that the pledge is terminated if a better term has been brought, although he does not think that the pledge is terminated when a thing has been sold on the condition "unless it should displease the buyer."

Notes

  1. §20.6.3.prnisi intra certum diem meliorem condicionem inuenisset — This clause defines the resolutive condition (in diem addictio: rescission of the contract upon a better offer) attached to the sale. The subjunctive pluperfect inuenisset represents a future perfect condition from the perspective of the past agreement, adjusted by the sequence of tenses (consecutio temporum).
  2. §20.6.3.prnisi emptori displicuisset — A resolutive condition for a sale on approval (pactum displicentiae: 'unless it displeases the buyer'). Marcellus's reasoning that 'the pledge is not terminated' (pignus finiri non putet) here is that the buyer's act of pledging the item implicitly manifests approval, thereby failing the condition of disapproval, finalizing the sale, and keeping the pledge validly in force.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §20.6.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:20.6.3.pr

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