Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.5.10.pr

Scope of Manager's Liability and Set-Off of Profit and Loss

Passage 582 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section defines the scope of liability for negligence and fraud in the unauthorized management of an absent person's affairs, details the exceptional liability for accidents when undertaking unfamiliar new businesses, and explains the offset of profits and losses across multiple transactions.

[POMPONIUS libro uicensimo primo ad Quintum Mucium. ] §3.5.10.prSi negotia absentis et ignorantis geras, et culpam et dolum praestare debes.
[POMPONIUS, on Quintus Mucius, book twenty-one] If you should manage the affairs of one who is absent and unaware, you must answer for both negligence and fraud.
sed Proculus interdum etiam casum praestare debere, ueluti si nouum negotium, quod non sit solitus absens facere, tu nomine eius geras: ueluti uenales nouicios coemendo uel aliquam negotiationem ineundo.
But Proculus thinks that sometimes one must even answer for accident, as for instance if you should manage in his name a new business which the absent person was not accustomed to do: for instance, by purchasing newly-imported slaves for sale or by entering into some trading business.
nam si quid damnum ex ea re secutum fuerit, te sequetur, lucrum uero absentem: quod si in quibusdam lucrum factum fuerit, in quibusdam damnum, absens pensare lucrum cum damno debet.
For if any loss should result from that matter, it will fall upon you, but the profit indeed upon the absent person; but if profit should be made in some transactions and loss in others, the absent person must balance the profit against the loss.

Notes

  1. §3.5.10.prdebere — In the clause "Proculus interdum etiam casum praestare debere", the infinitive "debere" depends on an omitted verb of saying or thinking (such as "putat", "ait", or "scribit"). "Proculus" functions as the subject accusative of this indirect statement.
  2. §3.5.10.prabsentem — In the phrase "lucrum uero absentem", the verb "sequetur" is omitted from the preceding clause "te sequetur". It should be understood as "lucrum uero absentem [sequetur]" (but profit indeed will follow the absent person).
  3. §3.5.10.prpensare — The verb "pensare" originally means "to weigh", but is used here in the sense of "to balance" or "offset" (synonymous with "compensare") profit against loss.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.5.10.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.5.10.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.