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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §21.2.66.pr-21.2.66.3

Buyer's Fault and Eviction Involving Absentees

Passage 3147 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the buyer's responsibility when ignoring the seller's warning, eviction involving absent persons or soldiers, the legal relations concerning second buyers and agents, and the effects of eviction during division among co-heirs with ratification.

[IDEM libro uicesimo octauo quaestionum. ] §21.2.66.prSi, cum uenditor admonuisset emptorem, ut Publiciana potius uel ea actione quae de fundo uectigali proposita est experiretur, emptor id facere supersedit, omnimodo nocebit ei dolus suus nec committitur stipulatio.
[IDEM libro uicesimo octauo quaestionum.] If, when the seller had advised the buyer to sue rather by the Publician action or by that action which is proposed concerning a tributary estate, the buyer neglected to do so, in every way his own malice will harm him, and the stipulation is not committed.
non idem in Seruiana quoque actione probari potest: haec enim etsi in rem actio est, nudam tamen possessionem auocat et soluta pecunia uenditori dissoluitur: unde fit, ut emptori suo nomine non competat.
The same cannot be approved in the case of the Servian action as well; for this, although it is an action in rem, yet calls away bare possession and is dissolved to the seller upon payment of the money; whence it happens that it does not belong to the buyer in his own name.
§21.2.66.1Si is qui rei publicae causa afuit fundum petat, utilis possessori pro euictione competit actio.
If he who was absent on account of the commonwealth should claim a land, a useful action on account of eviction is competent to the possessor.
item si priuatus a milite petat, eadem aequitas est emptori restituendae pro euictione actionis.
Likewise, if a private person should claim from a soldier, there is the same equity for the buyer of restoring the action on account of eviction.
§21.2.66.2Si secundus emptor uenditorem eundemque emptorem ad litem hominis dederit procuratorem et non restituto eo damnatio fuerit secuta, quodcumque ex causa iudicati praestiterit procurator ut in rem suam datus, ex stipulatu consequi non poterit: sed quia damnum euictionis ad personam pertinuit emptoris, qui mandati iudicio nihil percepturus est, non inutiliter ad percipiendam litis aestimationem agetur ex uendito.
If a second buyer should appoint the seller, who is also the buyer, as procurator for the suit concerning a slave, and a condemnation should follow without the slave being restored, whatever the procurator, as one appointed for his own interest, should pay from the cause of the judgment, he will not be able to recover on the stipulation; but because the loss of the eviction belonged to the person of the buyer, who is to receive nothing by the action of mandate, an action on the sale will be brought not without utility to obtain the valuation of the suit.
§21.2.66.3Diuisione inter coheredes facta si procurator absentis interfuit et dominus ratam habuit, euictis praediis in dominium actio dabitur, quae daretur in eum qui negotium absentis gessit, ut quanti sua interest actor consequatur, scilicet melioris aut deterioris agri facti causa finem pretii, quo fuerat tempore diuisionis aestimatus, deminuat uel excedat.
When a division has been made among co-heirs, if a procurator of an absent person was present and the principal ratified it, if the estates are evicted, an action will be given against the principal, which would be given against the one who managed the business of the absent person, so that the plaintiff may recover as much as it is his interest, namely, that depending on whether the land has become better or worse, the amount should fall below or exceed the limit of the price at which it had been valued at the time of the division.

Notes

  1. 21.2.66.prnec committitur stipulatio — The verb 'committitur' is a legal term indicating that the condition of a stipulation (stipulatio) has been fulfilled, thereby giving rise to a claim. Here, it means that due to the buyer's own negligence (dolus), the stipulation is not triggered, and no claim can be made.
  2. 21.2.66.2ut in rem suam datus — This refers to being appointed (datus) as a 'procurator in rem suam' (a procurator for one's own interest). In this case, since the procurator acts for his own right and benefit, he cannot demand reimbursement from the principal through the action of mandate (mandati iudicio).
  3. 21.2.66.3in dominium actio dabitur — The reading 'in dominium' in the manuscripts is naturally understood as a scribal error for 'in dominum' (against the principal, or to the principal). Since the procurator of the absent co-heir was present and the principal ratified it, the action upon eviction should be granted against (or to) the principal (dominus) rather than the procurator.
  4. 21.2.66.3deminuat uel excedat — These are subjunctive present third-person singular verbs whose implied subject is 'quanti sua interest' (the value of the plaintiff's interest). It expresses that the amount of compensation may fall below or exceed the valuation at the time of the division, depending on the changes in the land's value (improvement or deterioration).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §21.2.66.pr-21.2.66.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:21.2.66.pr-21.2.66.3

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