Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.5.23.pr

Payment to an Agent and Discharge by Ratification

Passage 595 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains the legal principle that when a debtor pays money to a creditor's agent, ownership is not immediately transferred, but the creditor can acquire ownership and release the debtor by subsequent ratification.

[IDEM libro uicensimo quarto ad edictum. ] §3.5.23.prSi ego hac mente pecuniam procuratori dem, ut ea ipsa creditoris fieret, proprietas quidem per procuratorem non adquiritur, potest tamen creditor etiam inuito me ratum habendo pecuniam suam facere, quia procurator in accipiendo creditoris dumtaxat negotium gessit: et ideo creditoris ratihabitione liberor.
[THE SAME, On the Edict, book twenty-four] If I should give money to an agent with this intention, that it should become the property of the creditor, ownership indeed is not acquired through the agent, yet the creditor can make the money his own, even against my will, by ratifying the transaction, because the agent in receiving it managed at least the business of the creditor; and therefore I am released by the ratification of the creditor.

Notes

  1. §3.5.23.prhac mente ... ut ea ipsa creditoris fieret — The `ut` clause explains the content of the intention anticipated by the demonstrative `hac`. While the main verb of the condition `dem` is in the present subjunctive, `fieret` in the `ut` clause is in the imperfect subjunctive, reflecting a subjective purpose or motivation traced back to a prior state of mind.
  2. §3.5.23.pretiam inuito me — An ablative absolute consisting of a pronoun (`me`) and an adjective (`inuito`), expressing a concessive meaning: "even against my will" or "even though I am unwilling."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.5.23.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.5.23.pr

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