Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.1.24.pr

Duration for Skilled Services and Accrual of General Labor

Passage 5909 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Stipulations for specific artistic or skilled services inherently imply a duration of time and cannot be demanded beforehand, though the right begins to accrue from the date of contract. In contrast, a freedman's general services do not accrue until they are actually ordered by the patron.

[IDEM libro quinquagensimo secundo digestorum. ] §38.1.24.prQuotiens certa species operarum in stipulationem deducitur, ueluti pictoriae fabriles, peti quidem non possunt nisi praeteritae, quia etsi non uerbis, at re ipsa inest obligationi tractus temporis, sicuti cum Ephesi dari stipulemur, dies continetur.
[THE SAME, in the fifty-second book of the Digests.] Whenever a specific kind of services is brought into a stipulation, such as those of a painter or an artisan, they indeed cannot be demanded unless they are past, because even if not by words, by the very nature of the matter a tract of time is inherent in the obligation, just as when we stipulate for something to be given at Ephesus, a period of days is implied.
et ideo inutilis est haec stipulatio: 'operas tuas pictorias centum hodie dare spondes'? cedunt tamen operae ex die interpositae stipulationis.
And therefore, this stipulation is useless: "Do you promise to give one hundred of your services as a painter today?" Nevertheless, the services begin to accrue from the day the stipulation is entered into.
sed operae, quas patronus a liberto postulat, confestim non cedunt, quia id agi inter eos uidetur, ne ante cederent quam indictae fuissent, scilicet quia ex commodo patroni libertus operas edere debet: quod in fabro uel pictore dici non conuenit.
But the services which a patron demands from a freedman do not accrue immediately, because it is deemed to be agreed between them that they should not accrue before they have been ordered, namely because the freedman must perform the services according to the convenience of the patron; which is not fitting to be said in the case of an artisan or a painter.

Notes

  1. §38.1.24.prnisi praeteritae — The perfect participle *praeteritae* (agreeing with the omitted subject *operae*) means "having passed." Since services (*operae*) inherently involve a duration of time, they cannot be judicially demanded (*peti*) until the period designated for their performance has elapsed and thus become "past."
  2. §38.1.24.prdies continetur — Meaning "a period of days is implied." In Roman law, when performance is promised at a distant location (e.g., Ephesus), the "period of days" (dies) physically required to travel to that location is naturally implied in the contract even if not explicitly stated. It is used here as an analogy to show that a "tract of time" is inherently implied in the promise of services.
  3. §38.1.24.prcedunt — Refers to the technical term *cedere* (specifically *dies cedit*) in Roman law, meaning that a right or debt begins to accrue or that the period toward the vesting of a claim starts to run. While specific services (like those of an artisan) begin to accrue from the day of the contract (*cedunt ex die...*), the general services of a freedman do not accrue immediately (*non confestim cedunt*) until they are actually ordered by the patron.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.1.24.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.1.24.pr

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.