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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.3.1.pr-3.3.1.3

Definition, Appointment, and Necessity of Procurators

Passage 484 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Defines the office of a procurator, discusses various opinions on the scope and methods of their appointment, and explains the necessity of this office, which enables representation in legal and other affairs when principals cannot attend to them personally.

[ULPIANUS libro nono ad edictum. ] §3.3.1.prProcurator est qui aliena negotia mandatu domini administrat.
[ULPIANUS libro nono ad edictum.] A procurator is one who administers the affairs of another by mandate of the owner.
§3.3.1.1Procurator autem uel omnium rerum uel unius rei esse potest constitutus uel coram uel per nuntium uel per epistulam: quamuis quidam, ut Pomponius libro uicensimo quarto scribit, non putent unius rei mandatum suscipientem procuratorem esse: sicuti ne is quidem, qui rem perferendam uel epistulam uel nuntium perferendum suscepit, proprie procurator appellatur.
Now, a procurator can be appointed either for all matters or for a single matter, either in person, or through a messenger, or by letter; although some, as Pomponius writes in his twenty-fourth book, do not think that one who undertakes a mandate for a single matter is a procurator, just as indeed he who has undertaken to deliver a thing, or a letter, or a message, is not properly called a procurator.
sed uerius est eum quoque procuratorem esse qui ad unam rem datus sit.
But it is more correct that he also is a procurator who has been appointed for a single matter.
§3.3.1.2Usus autem procuratoris perquam necessarius est, ut qui rebus suis ipsi superesse uel nolunt uel non possunt, per alios possint uel agere uel conueniri.
The employment of a procurator, moreover, is extremely necessary, so that those who either do not wish or are not able to attend to their own affairs themselves, may through others either sue or be sued.
§3.3.1.3Dari autem procurator et absens potest,
A procurator, furthermore, can also be appointed in his absence,

Notes

  1. §3.3.1.1quamuis ... non putent — The concessive conjunction quamuis takes the subjunctive (putent) to mean "although...". The subject is the indefinite pronoun quidam (some people).
  2. §3.3.1.2superesse — Here superesse does not have its common meaning of "to survive" or "to remain", but means "to attend to" or "to be present at", governing the dative case (rebus suis).
  3. §3.3.1.2agere uel conueniri — A procedural contrast in litigation. The active infinitive agere means "to bring an action/sue (as plaintiff)", whereas the passive infinitive conueniri means "to be sued/summoned (as defendant)".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.3.1.pr-3.3.1.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.3.1.pr-3.3.1.3

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