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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §26.9.3.pr

Ward's Liability for Tutor's Fraud Based on Enrichment

Passage 3921 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the principle that a tutor's fraud should neither harm nor benefit the ward, and details the exceptions where the ward can be sued under various actions (tributory, deposit, or inheritance petition) if they have profited from such fraud.

[PAPINIANUS libro uicesimo quaestionum. ] §26.9.3.prDolus tutorum puero neque nocere neque prodesse debet: quod autem uulgo dicitur tutoris dolum pupillo non nocere, tunc uerum est, cum ex illius fraude locupletior pupillus factus non est.
[PAPINIANUS, in the twentieth book of Questions.] The fraud of tutors ought neither to prejudice nor to benefit a ward; but what is commonly said, that the fraud of a tutor does not prejudice a ward, is true only when the ward has not been made richer by the tutor's fraud.
quare merito Sabinus tributoria actione pupillum conueniendum ex dolo tutoris existimauit, scilicet si per iniquam distributionem pupilli rationibus fauit.
Therefore, Sabinus rightly thought that a ward should be sued by the tributory action on account of the fraud of his tutor, provided, of course, that the tutor favored the ward's accounts through an unfair distribution.
quod in depositi quoque actione dicendum est, item hereditatis petitione, si modo, quod tutoris dolo desiit, pupilli rationibus illatum probetur.
This must also be said in the action of deposit, and likewise in the petition for an inheritance, provided only that what was lost through the tutor's fraud is proved to have been brought into the ward's accounts.

Notes

  1. §26.9.3.prquod autem uulgo dicitur tutoris dolum pupillo non nocere — The relative pronoun quod includes its antecedent and forms a noun clause meaning 'that which...', corresponding to tunc uerum est in the main clause. The subject of dicitur is the accusative and infinitive clause tutoris dolum pupillo non nocere.
  2. §26.9.3.prpupillum conueniendum — An accusative and infinitive construction using the gerundive conueniendum with esse omitted, expressing passive necessity or obligation. It functions as the object of the main verb existimauit, meaning 'that the ward should be sued/summoned'.
  3. §26.9.3.prquod tutoris dolo desiit — desiit is the perfect third-person singular of desino (to cease, be lost). quod is a relative pronoun (nominative neuter singular) containing its antecedent, referring to 'that which was lost (from another's property) through the tutor's fraud', and serves as the subject of the passive infinitive illatum (esse). The entire clause acts as the subject of probetur.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §26.9.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:26.9.3.pr

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