Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §22.1.16.pr-22.1.16.1

Interest on Public Donations and Treasury Land Sales

Passage 3176 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A ruling on the non-exigibility of interest on donations made to the state, and the injustice of demanding interest from a purchaser of treasury land who has not received possession or gathered fruits.

[IDEM libro primo decretorum. ] §22.1.16.prLiberalitatis in rem publicam factae usurae non exiguntur.
[THE SAME, from the first book of Decrees.] Interest on a donation made to the state is not demanded.
§22.1.16.1Cum usurae pretii fundi ab eo qui a fisco emerat peterentur et emptor negaret traditam sibi possessionem, imperator decreuit iniquum esse usuras ab eo exigi, qui fructus non percepisset.
When interest on the price of a tract of land was demanded from someone who had purchased it from the treasury, and the purchaser denied that possession had been delivered to him, the Emperor decreed that it was unjust for interest to be demanded from one who had not gathered the fruits.

Notes

  1. §22.1.16.prLiberalitatis — Genitive modifying usurae, referring to interest arising from a donation (liberalitas) made to the state.
  2. §22.1.16.1traditam sibi possessionem — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction serving as the object of negaret, with the infinitive esse omitted. Literally, 'denied that possession had been delivered to him,' meaning he claimed that possession had not yet been transferred.
  3. §22.1.16.1iniquum esse usuras ab eo exigi, qui fructus non percepisset — iniquum esse is the infinitive clause serving as the object of decreuit, where the neuter adjective iniquum takes the subordinate accusative with infinitive clause usuras... exigi ('that interest be demanded') as its subject. The subjunctive pluperfect percepisset in the relative clause is due to either a conditional sub-clause in past time or attraction within indirect discourse.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §22.1.16.pr-22.1.16.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:22.1.16.pr-22.1.16.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.