Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.2.34.pr

Landlord Retention of Property and Liability for Its Loss

Passage 6158 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The jurist discusses that the landlord's retention of goods is lawful only if the tenant has failed to pay rent; however, if the retained goods perish due to a neighboring building's collapse, the landlord can be held liable under the action on pledge if he could have moved them to a safer place.

[PAULUS libro decimo ad Sabinum. ] §39.2.34.prutique si pro praeterita pensione satisfacere paratus fuit: alioquin iusta retentio pignoris domino fieri uideretur.
[PAULUS in the tenth book on Sabinus.] At all events, if he was ready to satisfy for the past rent; otherwise, a lawful retention of the pledge would seem to be made by the owner.
sed et si quasi pignora retinuerit et ea interierint ruina uicinarum aedium, potest dici etiam pigneraticia actione locatorem teneri, si poterat eas res in locum tutiorem transferre.
But even if he retained them as if they were pledges and they perished by the ruin of the neighboring buildings, it can be said that the lessor is held even by the action on pledge, if he was able to transfer those things to a safer place.

Notes

  1. §39.2.34.prutique si — Indicates a restrictive condition on the principle stated in the preceding fragment (39.2.33.pr) that the tenant is granted an action on the lease. The main clause (that the action is granted) is omitted, meaning 'provided indeed that...'.
  2. §39.2.34.prpigneraticia actione locatorem teneri — An accusative with infinitive construction depending on the impersonal phrase 'potest dici'. The ablative 'pigneraticia actione' indicates the legal remedy (action on pledge) by which liability is enforced. Although the lessor (locator) is not an actual pledgee, because he retained the goods 'quasi pignora' (as if they were pledges), he can be held liable (teneri) under the action on pledge by legal extension.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.2.34.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.2.34.pr

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