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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.3.29.pr

Release of Joint Debtors Where One Lacks Capacity

Passage 5230 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the legal treatment when a testator bequeaths a release of debt to two joint debtors, but one of them is incapable of taking. If they are not partners, the incapable one's debt is delegated to the legal beneficiary; if they are partners, the formal release of the capable debtor consequently frees the other.

[PAULUS libro sexto ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §34.3.29.prSi is, qui duos reos promittendi habet, damnauerit heredem, ut utrosque liberet, si alter ex his capere non possit nec socii sint, delegari debebit is qui nihil capit ei cui hoc commodum lege competit: cuius petitione utrumque accidit, ut et hoc commodum ad eum perueniat et is qui capit liberetur.
[PAULUS in the sixth book on the Lex Iulia et Papia.] If a person who has two joint debtors has ordered his heir to release both of them, and if one of them cannot take and they are not partners, the one who takes nothing must be delegated to the person to whom this benefit belongs by law; by whose claim both things happen: both that this benefit reaches him, and that the one who can take is released.
quod si socii sint, propter eum qui capax est et ille capit per consequentias liberato illo per acceptilationem: id enim eueniret, etiamsi solum capacem liberare iussus esset.
But if they are partners, on account of the one who is capable, he indeed takes, and through the consequence of that one being released by acceptilation, the other is also released; for this would happen even if the heir had been ordered to release only the capable one.

Notes

  1. 34.3.29.prduos reos promittendi — Joint debtors, referring to two parties who are each bound for the whole obligation by a formal promise (promissio).
  2. 34.3.29.prdelegari debebit is — This means that the debt of the incapable person (is qui nihil capit) must be delegated (delegari) to the person who is legally entitled to the lapsed legacy (under the Lex Iulia et Papia), making him the new creditor to whom the debtor now owes the performance.
  3. 34.3.29.prliberato illo per acceptilationem — An ablative absolute construction (with 'illo' referring to the capable debtor), meaning 'through that one being released by acceptilation (formal verbal release)'. Because they are in a partnership (societas), the formal verbal release of one partner consequently (per consequentias) results in the extinguishment of the other's debt as well.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.3.29.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.3.29.pr

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