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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.3.21.pr

Cutting Spring Water Veins without Servitude

Passage 6194 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that regarding spring water whose veins come from a neighboring land, unless a servitude exists, the neighbor who cuts those veins on their own land is not deemed to have acted by force and is not liable under the interdict concerning force or stealth.

[IDEM libro trigensimo secundo ad Quintum Mucium. ] §39.3.21.prSi in meo aqua erumpat, quae ex tuo fundo uenas habeat, si eas uenas incideris et ob id desierit ad me aqua peruenire, tu non uideris ui fecisse, si nulla seruitus mihi eo nomine debita fuerit, nec interdicto quod ui aut clam teneris.
[THE SAME in the thirty-second book on Quintus Mucius.] If water should break out on my land which has its veins from your land, and you should cut those veins, and for that reason the water should cease to reach me, you are not deemed to have acted by force, if no servitude was owed to me on that account, nor are you liable under the interdict "concerning force or stealth."

Notes

  1. §39.3.21.prin meo — The noun fundo (land, estate) is omitted. In Roman legal texts, possessive pronouns in the ablative singular are frequently used without a noun to mean "on my/your land."
  2. §39.3.21.prui fecisse — ui (by force) is an ablative of means. It refers to an unauthorized act of interfering with another's enjoyment by force, in the absence of a lawful entitlement such as a servitude.
  3. §39.3.21.prnec interdicto quod ui aut clam teneris — teneris is the second-person singular passive of tenere (to hold, bind), used here in the sense of "to be held liable." interdicto is an ablative of means, referring to the specific praetorian interdict known as "quod ui aut clam" (concerning force or stealth).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.3.21.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.3.21.pr

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