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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.1.23.pr-38.1.23.1

Artisan Services and Demands by Multiple Patrons

Passage 5908 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Julian discusses how the services of artisans and painters differ from general services in that they can be stipulated for third parties, and addresses how services are claimed when there are multiple patrons residing in different places or cities.

[IULIANUS libro uicensimo secundo digestorum. ] §38.1.23.prHae operae, quas libertus promittit, multum distant a fabrilibus uel pictoriis operis.
[JULIAN, in the twenty-second book of the Digests.] These services, which a freedman promises, differ greatly from those of artisans or painters.
denique si libertus faber aut pictor fuerit, quamdiu id artificium exercebit, has operas patrono praestare cogitur.
In short, if a freedman is an artisan or a painter, as long as he practices that craft, he is compelled to perform these services for his patron.
quare sicut fabriles operas quis potest sibi aut Titio stipulari, ita patronus a liberto operas sibi aut Sempronio recte stipulatur: et libertus obligatione soluetur, si tales operas extraneo dederit, quales patrono praestando liberaretur.
Therefore, just as anyone can stipulate for artisan services for himself or for Titius, so a patron rightly stipulates with a freedman for services for himself or for Sempronius; and the freedman will be released from his obligation if he performs such services for a stranger as those by performing which for his patron he would be released.
§38.1.23.1Si patroni plures consulto in diuersas regiones discesserint et liberto simul operas indixerint, potest dici diem operarum cedere, sed libertum non obligari, quia non per eum, sed per patronos staret, quo minus operae dentur, sicut accidit, cum aegrotanti liberto operae indicuntur.
If several patrons have deliberately departed into different regions and have simultaneously ordered services from a freedman, it can be said that the time for the services begins to run, but that the freedman is not bound, because it is not through him, but through the patrons, that the services are not performed, just as happens when services are ordered from a sick freedman.
quod si diuersarum ciuitatium patroni sint et in sua quisque moretur, consentire debent in operis ab eo accipiendis: durum alioquin est eum, qui se liberare potest decem diebus operando, simul operis indictis, si in accipiendis non consentiant, compelli ad praestandam alteri quinque operarum aestimationem.
But if the patrons belong to different cities and each remains in his own, they must agree on accepting the services from him; otherwise it is harsh that he, who can release himself by working for ten days, should, when services are simultaneously ordered, if they do not agree on accepting them, be compelled to perform for one of them the valuation of five services.

Notes

  1. §38.1.23.prpatrono praestando — praestando is the ablative of the gerund expressing means ('by performing'), modifying the imperfect subjunctive liberaretur (whose subject is the freedman). patrono is the dative of indirect object governed by praestando.
  2. §38.1.23.1diem operarum cedere — diem cedere is a technical Roman law term meaning 'the day (of a claim) begins to run' or 'the right becomes vested.' Here, it signifies that the time-period for performing the services begins to elapse in favor of the freedman.
  3. §38.1.23.1per patronos staret, quo minus — stare per aliquem, quo minus... is an idiomatic expression meaning 'to be someone's fault that... not...' or 'to stand in the way of...'. The imperfect subjunctive staret is used impersonally in a counterfactual or hypothetical context.
  4. §38.1.23.1durum alioquin est — The accusative and infinitive clause eum... compelli serves as the subject of the impersonal expression durum est ('it is harsh'). The pronoun eum (subject of the infinitive) and the passive infinitive compelli are widely separated by a relative clause, an ablative absolute, and a conditional clause.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.1.23.pr-38.1.23.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.1.23.pr-38.1.23.1

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