[PAULUS libro uicesimo quinto quaestionum. ]
[PAULUS, in the twenty-fifth book of Questions.]\n\nA lender, in advancing money on maritime interest, received as a pledge certain goods on a ship, and, if the whole debt could not be paid off from these, he also received as a pledge whatever surplus might remain from other goods loaded on other ships and pledged to their own lenders.
§22.2.6.prFaenerator pecuniam usuris maritimis mutuam dando quasdam merces in naue pignori accepit, ex quibus si non potuisset totum debitum exsolui, aliarum mercium aliis nauibus impositarum propriisque faeneratoribus obligatarum si quid superfuisset, pignori accepit. quaesitum est naue propria perempta, ex qua totum solui potuit, an id damnum ad creditorem pertineat, intra praestitutos dies amissa naue, an ad ceterarum nauium superfluum admitti possit.
The question was raised, when the original ship had perished, from which the whole debt could have been paid, the ship being lost within the prescribed days, whether this loss falls upon the creditor, or whether he can be admitted to the surplus of the other ships.
respondi: alias quidem pignoris deminutio ad damnum debitoris, non etiam ad creditoris pertinet: sed cum traiecticia pecuniae ita datur, ut non alias petitio eius creditori competat, quam si salua nauis intra statuta tempora peruenerit, ipsius crediti obligatio non exsistente condicione defecisse uidetur, et ideo pignorum quoque persecutio perempta est etiam eorum, quae non sunt amissa.
I replied: "In other cases indeed, the loss of a pledge falls on the debtor, and not on the creditor; but when maritime money is given in such a way that the creditor has no right of action for it unless the ship arrives safely within the established times, the obligation of the credit itself is deemed to have failed because the condition was not fulfilled, and therefore the right to pursue the pledges is also extinguished, even for those that were not lost.
si nauis intra praestitutos dies perisset, et condicionem stipulationis defecisse uideri, ideoque sine causa de pignorum persecutione, quae in aliis nauibus fuerunt, quaeri.
If the ship had perished within the prescribed days, the condition of the stipulation is also deemed to have failed, and therefore it is without cause to inquire about the pursuit of the pledges which were in the other ships.
quando ergo ad illorum pignorum persecutionem creditor admitti potuerit? scilicet tunc cum condicio exstiterit obligationis et alio casu pignus amissum fuerit uel uilius distractum uel si nauis postea perierit, quam dies praefinitus periculo exactus fuerit.
When, therefore, could the creditor be admitted to the pursuit of those pledges? Clearly, then, when the condition of the obligation has been fulfilled, and the pledge has been lost by some other cause or sold at a lower price, or if the ship has perished after the time pre-determined for the risk has expired."