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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.5.12.pr

Loss of Stored Estate Funds and Manager's Liability

Passage 584 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus cites Julian's view on the case where a creditor managing the deceased debtor's estate stores collected money in a chest which then perishes without fault, explaining that the outcome depends on whether there was a just cause for keeping the entire sum.

[PAULUS libro nono ad edictum. ] §3.5.12.prDebitor meus, qui mihi quinquaginta debebat, decessit: huius hereditatis curationem suscepi et impendi decem: deinde redacta ex uenditione rei hereditariae centum in arca reposui: haec sine culpa mea perierunt.
[PAULUS, on the edict, book nine] My debtor, who owed me fifty, died: I undertook the administration of this inheritance and expended ten: then, having placed in the chest one hundred realized from the sale of an inherited thing, these perished without my fault.
quaesitum est, an ab herede, qui quandoque extitisset, uel creditam pecuniam quinquaginta petere possim uel decem quae impendi.
The question was raised whether I can seek from the heir, who might emerge at some point, either the loaned money of fifty or the ten which I expended.
Iulianus scribit in eo uerti quaestionem, ut animaduertamus, an iustam causam habuerim seponendorum centum: nam si debuerim et mihi et ceteris hereditariis creditoribus soluere, periculum non solum sexaginta, sed et reliquorum quadraginta me praestaturum, decem tamen quae impenderim retenturum, id est sola nonaginta restituenda.
Julian writes that the question turns on this: that we consider whether I had a just cause for setting aside the one hundred: for if I ought to have paid both myself and the other hereditary creditors, [he writes] that I would bear the risk not only of sixty, but also of the remaining forty, but would retain the ten which I expended, that is, only ninety must be restored.
si uero iusta causa fuerit, propter quam integra centum custodirentur, ueluti si periculum erat, ne praedia in publicum committerentur, ne poena traiecticiae pecuniae augeretur aut ex compromisso committeretur: non solum decem, quae in hereditaria negotia impenderim, sed etiam quinquaginta quae mihi debita sunt ab herede me consequi posse.
But if there was a just cause on account of which the entire one hundred were kept, as for instance if there was a danger lest the estates be forfeited to the public treasury, lest the penalty of maritime loan be increased, or lest a penalty be incurred under a compromise: [Julian writes] that I can obtain from the heir not only the ten which I expended on the hereditary affairs, but also the fifty which are owed to me.

Notes

  1. 3.5.12.prredacta ... centum — The past participle redacta is a neuter plural accusative agreeing with the numeral centum (here treated substantively as a neuter plural accusative meaning 'one hundred [units of money]'). Alternatively, it can be interpreted as an ablative absolute with an implied feminine singular noun pecunia ('money having been collected, I placed one hundred...').
  2. 3.5.12.prin eo uerti quaestionem, ut animaduertamus — The ut-clause functions appositively to the pronoun eo in the phrase 'in eo uerti' (to turn on this), explaining what 'this' consists of ('namely, that we consider').
  3. 3.5.12.prme praestaturum ... me consequi posse — These accusative-with-infinitive (AcI) constructions are both governed by the verb 'Iulianus scribit' (Julian writes) introduced earlier. Especially 'me... posse' in the latter part serves as the apodosis of the conditional sentence 'si uero...' within the indirect speech.
  4. 3.5.12.prne praedia in publicum committerentur — This subordinate clause introduced by the conjunction ne explains the content of 'periculum erat' (there was a danger). The phrase 'committere in publicum' is a legal term meaning 'to be forfeited or confiscated to the public treasury.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.5.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.5.12.pr

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