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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §25.1.4.pr

General Definition of Necessary Expenses and Liability for Outcomes

Passage 3663 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus defines necessary expenses generally based on what the wife would lose if they were omitted, and explains the difference in the husband's liability for bad outcomes depending on whether the expense was incurred or not, using the example of propping up a ruinous apartment building that subsequently burns down.

[PAULUS libro trigesimo sexto ad edictum. ] §25.1.4.prEt in totum id uidetur necessariis impensis contineri, quod si a marito omissum sit, iudex tanti eum damnabit, quanti mulieris interfuerit eas impensas fieri.
[PAULUS, On the Edict, book 36] On the whole, that is deemed to be contained in necessary expenses, which, if it has been omitted by the husband, the judge will condemn him to pay as much as it would have been of interest to the woman that those expenses be made.
sed hoc differt, quod factarum ratio habetur, etsi res male gesta est, non factarum ita, si ob id res male gesta est: itaque si fulserit insulam ruentem eaque exusta sit, inpensas consequitur, si non fecerit, deusta ea nihil praestabit.
But there is this difference: that account is taken of those expenses incurred even if the matter turned out badly, but of those not incurred only if the matter turned out badly on that account. Therefore, if he has propped up a ruinous apartment building and it has been burnt down, he recovers the expenses; but if he did not do so, he will pay nothing even if it was burnt down.

Notes

  1. §25.1.4.prtanti eum damnabit, quanti mulieris interfuerit — tanti... quanti... are genitives of value/price, showing the measure of condemnation by damnabit. mulieris is the genitive of person with the impersonal verb interfuerit (to be of interest/benefit). The following accusative with infinitive clause eas impensas fieri acts as the subject of interfuerit.
  2. §25.1.4.prfactarum... non factarum — These are perfect participles with impensarum (expenses) understood from the preceding context. the phrase ita, si... expresses a restrictive condition meaning 'only if...' or 'on the condition that...'.
  3. §25.1.4.prdeusta ea — An ablative absolute construction where the pronoun ea refers to the feminine noun insula (apartment building). It has a concessive force here ('even if it was burnt down'). The husband is not liable (nihil praestabit) because the loss was caused by fire (force majeure), not by the failure to prop it up.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §25.1.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:25.1.4.pr

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