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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.1.10.pr-38.1.10.1

Designation of Stipulator for Services and Third-Party Discharge

Passage 5895 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the proper designation of the beneficiary when a patron's slave stipulates services from a freedman, and why performance to a third party does not release the freedman from his obligation.

[POMPONIUS libro quinto decimo ad Sabinum. ] §38.1.10.prSeruus patroni a liberto male ita stipulatur: 'operas mihi dare spondes'? itaque patrono dari stipulandum est.
[POMPONIUS, in the fifteenth book on Sabinus.] The slave of a patron improperly stipulates thus from a freedman: 'Do you promise to perform services for me?' Therefore, it must be stipulated that they be performed for the patron.
§38.1.10.1Libertus operarum nomine ita iurando 'patrono aut Lucio Titio' soluere Lucio Titio non potest, ut a patrono liberetur
A freedman, by swearing thus in the name of services 'to the patron or to Lucius Titius', cannot perform them to Lucius Titius so as to be released from the patron.

Notes

  1. §38.1.10.prmale — The adverb male here means "improperly" or "legally invalidly." While a slave can acquire rights for his master (the patron), stipulating for performance to himself ('mihi') does not create a valid obligation.
  2. §38.1.10.prstipulandum est — An impersonal passive construction using the gerundive of the deponent verb stipulari (to stipulate/exact a promise). The passive infinitive 'dari' with 'patrono' (to be given to the patron) functions as the subject or complement of 'stipulandum est'.
  3. §38.1.10.1ut a patrono liberetur — The ut-clause with the subjunctive 'liberetur' modifies 'soluere non potest'. It expresses a restrictive or consecutive sense: 'he cannot perform to Lucius Titius in such a way as to be released from the patron'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.1.10.pr-38.1.10.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.1.10.pr-38.1.10.1

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