Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §36.4.3.pr-36.4.3.3

Inquiry into Trusts, Demands for Security, and Rule against Repetition

Passage 5694 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text addresses the relationship between proving a trust and providing security, the judge's summary inquiry into vexatious security demands, the requirement of ratification security for agents, and the rule that once security is given, it cannot be demanded again even if the guarantors are insolvent.

[IDEM libro quinquagensimo secundo ad edictum. ] §36.4.3.prSi is, a quo satis petitur, offerat cognitionem et dicat: 'hodie constet de fideicommisso, hodie agamus', dicendum est cessare satisdationem, cum possit ante de fideicommisso quam de satisdatione constare.
[THE SAME in the fifty-second book on the Edict.] If he from whom security is demanded should offer an investigation and say: 'Let the matter of the trust be determined today, let us litigate today,' it must be said that the requirement of security ceases, since the matter of the trust can be determined before that of the security.
§36.4.3.1Nec non illa cognitio imploranda erit ab herede, si forte dicatur per calumniam satis peti: hoc enim commune est omnium satisdationum.
Also, that investigation must be implored by the heir, if by chance it is said that security is being demanded vexatiously; for this is common to all securities.
diuus enim Pius rescripsit eum, apud quem satis petitur, debere explorare, num per calumniam satis petatur: de qua re summatim debet cognoscere.
For the deified Pius wrote in a rescript that the person before whom security is demanded ought to investigate whether it is demanded vexatiously, about which matter he ought to hold a summary inquiry.
§36.4.3.2Si procurator satis legatorum desideret, si quidem mandatum ei sit, non habebit necesse de rato cauere, sed erit ei satisdandum: si uero dubitetur, an mandatum sit uel non sit, de rato cautio erit exigenda.
If an agent should demand security for legacies, if indeed he has a mandate, he will not need to give security for ratification, but security must be given to him; but if there is doubt as to whether there is a mandate or not, security for ratification must be exacted.
§36.4.3.3Si semel fuerit satisdatum, quaesitum est, an etiam rursus cauendum sit, si forte dicatur egenos fideiussores esse datos.
If security has been given once, it has been asked whether security must be given again if it is alleged that insolvent guarantors were given.
et magis est, ut caueri non debeat: hoc enim diuus Pius rescripsit Pacuuiae Licinianae: ipsam enim facilitati suae expensum ferre debere, quae minus fideiussores idoneos accepit: neque enim oportet per singula momenta onerari eum, a quo satis petitur.
And the better opinion is that security ought not to be given; for the deified Pius wrote this in a rescript to Pacuvia Liciniana: for she herself ought to charge to her own easy-going nature the fact that she accepted less suitable guarantors; for it is not proper that he from whom security is demanded should be burdened at every moment.

Notes

  1. 36.4.3.prcum possit ante de fideicommisso quam de satisdatione constare — The cum clause expresses cause ('since') and contains the impersonal verb possit with the infinitive constare. The phrase ante ... quam is split to indicate the correlation 'before... than', explaining that the existence of the trust (de fideicommisso) can be determined prior to the necessity of security (de satisdatione).
  2. 36.4.3.1eum, apud quem satis petitur — The accusative eum, which serves as the subject of debere, is modified by the relative clause apud quem ('before whom'). This refers to the competent judge (such as a praetor or iudex) before whom the demand for security is brought.
  3. 36.4.3.3ipsam enim facilitati suae expensum ferre debere — An accusative-with-infinitive construction within the indirect speech introduced by rescripsit. The pronoun ipsam refers to Pacuvia Liciniana. The idiom expensum ferre (literally 'to enter as an expense' in bookkeeping) construed with the dative facilitati suae ('her own easy-going nature') means 'to bear the loss as the result of one's own carelessness'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §36.4.3.pr-36.4.3.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:36.4.3.pr-36.4.3.3

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.