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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.3.12.pr

Liability of New Owners and Inactive Partners for Restoration

Passage 6185 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains the scope of liability for a new owner or a partner of the builder of a work, clarifying whether they must restore it or merely guarantee sufferance, based on the plaintiff's own delay.

[PAULUS libro sexto decimo ad Sabinum. ] §39.3.12.prEmptor (nisi simulata uenditio est) ceterique successores uel restituere, si uelint, opus factum uel patientiam praestare debent: nam actori moram suam nocere debere manifestum est.
[PAULUS libro sexto decimo ad Sabinum.] The buyer (unless it is a simulated sale) and other successors ought either to restore the work done, if they wish, or to guarantee sufferance; for it is manifest that the plaintiff's own delay ought to harm him.
in eadem causa est etiam socius eius qui opus fecit, si ipse auctor non fuit: idemque in donato fundo legatoue est.
The partner of the person who did the work is also in the same position, if he himself was not the author; and the same is true of land that has been donated or bequeathed.

Notes

  1. 39.3.12.practori moram suam nocere debere — This is an accusative-with-infinitive (AcI) construction serving as the subject clause of the impersonal "manifestum est" (it is manifest). The subject of the infinitive "debere" is the accusative "moram suam" (his own delay), and "nocere" governs the dative "actori" (the plaintiff). Thus, it means "that the plaintiff's own delay ought to harm him."
  2. 39.3.12.pruel restituere, si uelint, opus factum uel patientiam praestare debent — The two infinitive phrases are connected by the correlative conjunctions "uel... uel..." (either... or...). The inserted clause "si uelint" (if they wish) applies only to the former "restituere" (to restore), indicating an alternative obligation: they may restore the work if they wish (at their own expense), but otherwise they must guarantee sufferance (non-interference).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.3.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.3.12.pr

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