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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §26.7.12.pr-26.7.12.4

Actions Between Co-Tutors and Standards of Pupil Expense

Passage 3847 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment discusses the restrictions on actions between co-tutors, the validity of transactions made in good faith, the limits and criteria for expenditures (education, support, gifts) from the pupil's estate, and the exemption of interest when the pupil's money cannot be lent out.

[PAULUS libro trigesimo octauo ad edictum. ] §26.7.12.prCum plures tutelam gerunt, nulli eorum in contutorem actio pupilli nomine datur.
[PAULUS in the thirty-eighth book on the Edict.] When several persons exercise tutelage, an action is not granted to any of them against a co-tutor in the name of the pupil.
§26.7.12.1Quae bona fide a tutore gesta sunt, rata habentur etiam ex rescriptis Traiani et Hadriani: et ideo pupillus rem a tutore legitime distractam uindicare non potest: nam et inutile est pupillis, si administratio eorum non seruatur, nemine scilicet emente.
What is done in good faith by a tutor is held valid, also according to the rescripts of Trajan and Hadrian; and therefore the pupil cannot claim property lawfully sold by the tutor. For it is also disadvantageous to pupils if their administration is not maintained, because, of course, no one would buy.
nec interest, tutor soluendo fuerit nec ne, cum, si bona fide res gesta sit, seruanda sit, si mala fide, alienatio non ualet.
And it does not matter whether the tutor was solvent or not, since, if the transaction was done in good faith, it must be maintained, while if in bad faith, the alienation is void.
§26.7.12.2Nimium est licere tutori respectu existimationis pupilli erogare ex bonis eius, quod ex suis non honestissime fuisset erogaturus.
It is going too far to allow a tutor, out of respect for the reputation of his pupil, to expend from the pupil's estate what he would not have very honorably expended from his own.
§26.7.12.3Cum tutor non rebus dumtaxat, sed etiam moribus pupilli praeponatur, inprimis mercedes praeceptoribus, non quas minimas poterit, sed pro facultate patrimonii, pro dignitate natalium constituet, alimenta seruis libertisque, nonnumquam etiam exteris, si hoc pupillo expediet, praestabit, sollemnia munera parentibus cognatisque mittet.
Since a tutor is appointed not only over the property but also over the conduct of the pupil, he shall, above all, fix the fees for teachers, not at the lowest possible rate, but in proportion to the resources of the estate and the dignity of the pupil's birth; he shall provide sustenance to slaves and freedmen, and sometimes even to strangers, if this is to the advantage of the pupil; he shall send customary gifts to parents and relatives.
sed non dabit dotem sorori alio patre natae, etiamsi aliter ea nubere non potuit: nam etsi honeste, ex liberalitate tamen fit, quae seruanda arbitrio pupilli est.
But he shall not give a dowry to a sister born of a different father, even if she could not otherwise marry; for, although honorable, it is nevertheless an act of liberality, which must be reserved for the discretion of the pupil.
§26.7.12.4Si tutor pecuniam pupillarem credere non potuit, quod non erat cui crederet, pupillo uacabit.
If the tutor was unable to lend out the pupil's money because there was no one to whom he could lend it, the money shall remain idle to the pupil's account.

Notes

  1. 26.7.12.1tutor soluendo fuerit — soluendo is the dative of the gerundive, used with esse as a legal idiom meaning 'to be solvent' (dative of purpose or capacity). The subjunctive perfect fuerit is used because it is in an indirect question.
  2. 26.7.12.2quod ex suis non honestissime fuisset erogaturus — quod is a relative pronoun (neuter accusative singular) lacking an explicit antecedent (such as id) as the object of erogare. fuisset erogaturus is a periphrastic subjunctive pluperfect (future active participle + esse), expressing a past contrary-to-fact condition ('which he would not have expended from his own').
  3. 26.7.12.4pupillo uacabit — uacare in this legal context means that money or capital 'remains idle' or 'does not bear interest'. pupillo is a dative of advantage/disadvantage (dativus commodi), indicating the legal effect that the money remains idle 'to the account of the pupil' (freeing the tutor from interest liability).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §26.7.12.pr-26.7.12.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:26.7.12.pr-26.7.12.4

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