Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §21.2.3.pr

Theft of Peculium and Double-Value Recourse After Sale

Passage 3084 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that since the peculium is excluded in the sale of a slave, even if an action for theft is brought against the buyer due to the slave taking money from it, the buyer cannot seek recourse under the double-value stipulation because the action arose after the sale.

[IDEM libro decimo ad Sabinum. ] §21.2.3.prCum in uenditione serui peculium semper exceptum esse intellegitur, is homo ex peculio summam quandam secum abstulerat.
[THE SAME, on Sabinus, book ten.] Since in the sale of a slave the peculium is always understood to be excepted, this slave had taken away with himself a certain sum from the peculium.
si propter hanc causam furti cum emptore actum sit, non reuerteretur emptor ad uenditorem ex stipulatione duplae, quia furtis noxisque solutum esse praestari debet uenditionis tempore, haec autem actio postea esse coeperit.
If on this account an action for theft should be brought against the buyer, the buyer would not have recourse to the seller under the stipulation for double, because it must be guaranteed that the slave is free from thefts and damages at the time of the sale, whereas this action began to exist afterwards.

Notes

  1. §21.2.3.prcum... intellegitur — The conjunction cum is used with the indicative present intellegitur to introduce a factual circumstance or cause ("since / when it is understood").
  2. §21.2.3.prcum emptore actum sit — An impersonal passive expression of the idiom agere cum aliquo ("to bring an action against someone"). It is in the perfect subjunctive within the si-clause ("if an action should be brought against the buyer").
  3. §21.2.3.prnon reuerteretur — The imperfect subjunctive is used in the apodosis of the conditional sentence, expressing a potential or counterfactual result ("would not have recourse / would not return").
  4. §21.2.3.prsolutum esse — An accusative-with-infinitive clause with the subject accusative eum (or hominem, referring to the slave) omitted. It functions as the subject or complement of praestari debet, with the ablatives furtis noxisque meaning "free / exempt from thefts and damages."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §21.2.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:21.2.3.pr

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