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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §21.2.31.pr

Validity of Stipulations Guaranteeing a Slave's Condition

Passage 3112 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian argues that a stipulation guaranteeing that a slave is healthy, not a thief, etc., is valid because it covers the buyer's financial interest, rejecting the view of some jurists who deem it void.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragesimo secundo ad Sabinum. ] §21.2.31.prSi ita quis stipulanti spondeat 'sanum esse, furem non esse, uispellionem non esse' et cetera, inutilis stipulatio quibusdam uidetur, quia si quis est in hac causa, impossibile est quod promittitur, si non est, frustra est.
[ULPIAN, On Sabinus, Book Forty-Two] If anyone should promise a stipulator in this manner: 'that the slave is healthy, is not a thief, is not a corpse-carrier,' and so forth, the stipulation seems to some to be useless; because if the slave is in this condition, what is promised is impossible, and if he is not, it is in vain.
sed ego puto uerius hanc stipulationem 'furem non esse, uispellionem non esse, sanum esse' utilem esse: hoc enim continere, quod interest horum quid esse uel horum quid non esse.
But I think it is more correct that this stipulation 'that he is not a thief, is not a corpse-carrier, is healthy' is useful: for this covers what interest there is in his being or not being any of these.
sed et si cui horum fuerit adiectum 'praestari', multo magis ualere stipulationem: alioquin stipulatio quae ab aedilibus proponitur inutilis erit, quod utique nemo sanus probabit.
Nay, even if 'to be guaranteed' should be added to any of these, the stipulation is much more valid; otherwise, the stipulation proposed by the aediles will be useless, which surely no sane person will approve.

Notes

  1. §21.2.31.prin hac causa — 'In this condition/state' (i.e., being unhealthy, a thief, or a corpse-carrier). Here causa refers to a status, condition, or state of affairs.
  2. §21.2.31.prhoc enim continere, quod interest horum quid esse uel horum quid non esse — continere is an infinitive in the accusative-and-infinitive construction dependent on ego puto (with hoc, referring to the stipulation, as its subject). quod interest represents id quod interest (what is of interest/financial concern), where the impersonal verb interest takes the infinitival phrase horum quid... non esse (that the slave is or is not any of these things) as its subject.
  3. §21.2.31.pralioquin — 'Otherwise'. The author employs an argument ad absurdum, pointing out that if the stipulation in question were not held valid, the standard stipulation proposed in the aediles' edict would also be void.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §21.2.31.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:21.2.31.pr

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