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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §22.1.24.pr-22.1.24.2

Readiness for Trial and Default Toward Agents

Passage 3184 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses whether a debtor ready for trial is in default, the liability of a surety, and the principle that default toward agents constitutes default toward the creditor, with illustrative examples.

[PAULUS libro trigesimo septimo ad edictum. ] §22.1.24.prSi quis solutioni quidem moram fecit, iudicium autem accipere paratus fuit, non uidetur fecisse moram: utique si iuste ad iudicium prouocauit.
[PAULUS, from his thirty-seventh book on the Edict.] If anyone has indeed made default in payment, but was ready to submit to trial, he is not deemed to have made default; at all events if he has appealed to trial with just cause.
§22.1.24.1Cum reus moram facit, et fideiussor tenetur.
When the principal debtor makes default, the surety is also bound.
§22.1.24.2Mora uidetur creditori fieri, siue ipsi siue ei cui mandauerat siue ei qui negotia eius gerebat mora facta sit: nec hoc casu per liberam personam adquiri uidetur, sed officium impleri, sicuti, cum quis furtum mihi facientem deprehendit, negotium meum agens manifesti furti actionem mihi parat: item cum procurator interpellauerit promissorem hominis, perpetuam facit stipulationem.
Default is deemed to be made toward the creditor, whether default has been made toward himself, or toward him whom he had mandated, or toward him who was managing his affairs; and in this case it is not deemed that acquisition is made through a free person, but that a duty is fulfilled, just as, when someone catches one committing a theft against me, acting on my behalf he prepares for me an action for manifest theft; likewise, when a procurator has demanded performance from the promisor of a slave, he makes the stipulation perpetual.

Notes

  1. 22.1.24.prsolutioni — Dative case indicating the object of the default (moram), meaning "default in payment."
  2. 22.1.24.2per liberam personam adquiri — This refers to the classical Roman law principle that "nothing can be acquired through an independent free person" (per extraneam personam nihil adquiri posse). The default generated through an agent or business manager is conceptualized here not as a prohibited "acquisition," but as the "fulfillment of a duty" (officium impleri) toward the principal.
  3. 22.1.24.2promissorem hominis — In legal texts, homo means a "slave" as a specific object. The "promisor of a slave" refers to the debtor. When an agent demands performance, default is established; subsequently, even if the slave dies and performance becomes impossible, the debtor is not released, and the stipulation is made perpetual (perpetuam facit stipulationem).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §22.1.24.pr-22.1.24.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:22.1.24.pr-22.1.24.2

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