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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §21.1.62.pr

Inapplicability of Aediles' Edict to Gifts and Fraud Liability

Passage 3078 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus explains that the aediles' edict does not apply to gifted properties since no price is paid, asserting that donors are not liable for warranties except in cases of fraud (dolus).

[MODESTINUS libro octauo differentiarum. ] §21.1.62.prAd res donatas edictum aedilium curulium non pertinere dicendum est: etenim quid se restituturum donator repromittit, quando nullum pretium interueniat? quid ergo rei ab eo cui donata est melior facta sit, numquid quanti eius qui meliorem fecit interest donator conueniatur? quod minime dicendum est, ne eo casu liberalitatis suae donator poenam patiatur.
[MODESTINUS in the eighth book of Differences.] It must be said that the edict of the curule aediles does not apply to donated things; for what does the donor promise to restore, when no price intervenes? What if, therefore, a thing has been made better by the person to whom it was donated, should the donor be sued for as much as is the interest of the one who made it better? This is by no means to be said, lest in that case the donor suffer a penalty for his own liberality.
itaque si qua res donetur, necesse non erit ea repromittere, quae in rebus uenalibus aediles repromitti iubent.
Therefore, if any thing is donated, it will not be necessary to promise those things which the aediles order to be promised in the case of things for sale.
sane de dolo donator obligare se et debet et solet, ne quod benigne contulerit fraudis consilio reuocet.
Of course, the donor both ought to and usually does obligate himself with respect to fraud, lest he should revoke by a fraudulent design what he has kindly bestowed.

Notes

  1. 62prquanti eius qui meliorem fecit interest donator conueniatur — The impersonal verb interest takes the genitive of the person concerned (eius qui meliorem fecit) and the genitive of value (quanti) to indicate the measure of interest. The phrase forms a rhetorical question: "should the donor be sued for the amount of the interest of the one who made it better?"
  2. 62prquod minime dicendum est, ne eo casu liberalitatis suae donator poenam patiatur — The relative pronoun quod at the beginning of the sentence links to the preceding statement. liberalitatis suae is a genitive of cause, indicating that the donor should not suffer a penalty (poenam) on account of his own liberality (act of gifting).
  3. 62prrepromittere — In a legal context, repromittere (and the passive repromitti) refers to "promising in return" or "formally guaranteeing" warranties against defects, especially under the aediles' edict concerning sales.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §21.1.62.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:21.1.62.pr

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