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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §27.9.8.pr-27.9.8.2

Prohibition of Alienation by De Facto Curators

Passage 4067 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author establishes that de facto administrators without legal titles cannot alienate the property of wards, that the imperial restriction on alienation applies to curators of non-adolescents, and that pledging common property requires a formal decree.

[IDEM libro secundo de omnibus tribunalibus. ] §27.9.8.prQui neque tutores sunt ipso iure neque curatores, sed pro tutore negotia gerunt uel pro curatore, eos non posse distrahere res pupillorum uel adulescentium nulla dubitatio est.
[THE SAME, in the second book On All Tribunals.] There is no doubt that those who are neither tutors nor curators by operation of law, but manage affairs as tutors or as curators, cannot alienate the property of wards or of young persons.
§27.9.8.1Sed si curator sit furiosi uel cuius alterius non adulescentis, uidendum est, utrum iure ueteri ualebit uenditio an hanc orationem admittemus.
But if anyone is a curator of an insane person or of any other person who is not a young person, it must be seen whether the sale will be valid under the old law or whether we should admit this imperial address.
et puto, quia de pupillis princeps loquitur et coniuncti tutoribus curatores accipiunt, pertinere: et de ceteris puto ex sententia orationis idem esse dicendum.
And I think that it applies, because the emperor speaks of wards, and curators are received as conjoined with tutors; and I think that the same must be said of the others, according to the intention of the address.
§27.9.8.2An obligari communia possint, quaeritur, sed non puto sine decreto obliganda: nam quod excepit oratio, ad hoc tantum pertinet, ut perematur communio, non ut augeatur difficultas communionis.
It is asked whether common property can be pledged, but I do not think that it should be pledged without a decree; for what the imperial address excepted pertains only to this, that the common ownership be dissolved, not that the difficulty of the common ownership be increased.

Notes

  1. §27.9.8.prQui neque tutores sunt ipso iure neque curatores, sed pro tutore negotia gerunt uel pro curatore, eos non posse — A proleptic construction where the relative clause `Qui...` at the beginning qualifies `eos`, which is the subject accusative of the infinitive clause `eos non posse...` depending on the main predicate `nulla dubitatio est`. This word order serves to emphasize the class of persons concerned.
  2. §27.9.8.1coniuncti tutoribus curatores accipiunt — The verb `accipiunt` is used here in the passive sense of "are understood" or "are interpreted," and `coniuncti tutoribus` ("as joined with tutors") functions predicatively with `curatores` ("curators"). The phrase means "curators are understood to be joined with tutors."
  3. §27.9.8.2non puto sine decreto obliganda — An accusative-with-infinitive construction where `esse` is omitted after the gerundive `obliganda`, governed by the main verb `puto`. The implied subject of the infinitive is `communia` (common property) from the preceding clause, meaning "I do not think that common property should be pledged without a decree."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §27.9.8.pr-27.9.8.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:27.9.8.pr-27.9.8.2

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