[ULPIANUS libro undecimo ad edictum. ] §4.2.14.prItem si, cum exceptione aduersus te perpetua tutus essem, coegero te acceptum mihi facere, cessare hoc edictum, quia nihil tibi abest.
[ULPIANUS, on the Edict, Book XI.] Likewise, if, when I was protected by a perpetual exception against you, I should compel you to release me, this edict does not apply, because you lose nothing.
§4.2.14.1Si quis non restituat, in quadruplum in eum iudicium pollicetur: quadruplabitur autem omne quodcumque restitui oportuit.
If anyone does not restore, an action for fourfold is promised against him; moreover, whatever ought to have been restored shall be quadrupled.
satis clementer cum reo praetor egit, ut daret ei restituendi facultatem, si uult poenam euitare.
The praetor acted with sufficient clemency toward the defendant, so as to give him the opportunity of restoring if he wishes to avoid the penalty.
post annum uero in simplum actionem pollicetur, sed non semper, sed causa cognita.
But after a year, he promises an action for the single value, yet not always, but after inquiry into the case.
§4.2.14.2In causae autem cognitione uersatur, ut, si alia actio non sit, tunc haec detur: et sane cum per metum facta iniuria anno et quidem utili exoleuerit, idonea esse causa debet, ut post annum actio haec dari debeat.
In the inquiry into the case, however, this is involved: that if there is no other action, then this one is granted. And indeed, since an injury done through duress expires in a year, and indeed a useful year, there must be a suitable cause for this action to be granted after a year.
alia autem actio esse sic potest: si is cui uis admissa est decesserit, heres eius habet hereditatis petitionem, quoniam pro possessore qui uim intulit possidet: propter quod heredi non erit metus causa actio, quamuis, si annus largiretur, etiam heres in quadruplum experiri possit.
Another action, however, can exist in this way: if the person upon whom force was committed should die, his heir has the petition for inheritance, because the person who applied force possesses "as possessor." For this reason, the heir will not have the action on the ground of duress, although, if the year were granted, the heir also could sue for fourfold.
ideo autem successoribus datur, quoniam et rei habet persecutionem.
However, it is granted to successors because it also involves the pursuit of the thing.
§4.2.14.3In hac actione non quaeritur, utrum is qui conuenitur an alius metum fecit: sufficit enim hoc docere metum sibi illatum uel uim, et ex hac re eum qui conuenitur, etsi crimine caret, lucrum tamen sensisse.
In this action, it is not asked whether the person who is sued or someone else applied duress; for it is sufficient to show that duress or force was brought to bear on oneself, and that from this fact the person who is sued, even if he is free from blame, has nevertheless realized a gain.
nam cum metus habeat in se ignorantiam, merito quis non adstringitur ut designet, quis ei metum uel uim adhibuit: et ideo ad hoc tantum actor adstringitur, ut doceat metum in causa fuisse, ut alicui acceptam pecuniam faceret uel rem traderet uel quid aliud faceret.
For since duress involves in itself ignorance, it is with good reason that one is not bound to designate who applied the duress or force to him. And therefore, the plaintiff is bound only to show that duress was the cause of his releasing someone from debt, or delivering a thing, or doing something else.
nec cuiquam iniquum uidetur ex alieno facto alium in quadruplum condemnari, quia non statim quadrupli est actio, sed si res non restituatur.
Nor does it seem unjust to anyone that one person should be condemned in fourfold for the act of another, because the action is not immediately for fourfold, but only if the thing is not restored.
§4.2.14.4Haec autem actio cum arbitraria sit, habet reus licentiam usque ad sententiam ab arbitro datam restitutionem, secundum quod supra diximus, rei facere: quod si non fecerit, iure meritoque quadrupli condemnationem patietur.
Since this action is arbitrary, the defendant has the freedom, up to the judgment given by the arbiter, to make restoration of the thing, according to what we said above; but if he does not do so, he will suffer condemnation in fourfold by law and justice.
§4.2.14.5Aliquando tamen et si metus adhibitus proponatur, arbitrium absolutionem adfert.
Sometimes, however, even if the application of duress is propounded, the arbitrament brings absolution.
quid enim si metum quidem Titius adhibuit me non conscio, res autem ad me peruenit, et haec in rebus humanis non est sine dolo malo meo: nonne iudicis officio absoluar? aut si seruus in fuga est, aeque, si cauero iudicis officio me, si in meam potestatem peruenerit, restituturum, absolui debebo.
For what if Titius applied duress without my knowledge, and the thing came to me, and it no longer exists among human things without my malicious intent? Shall I not be absolved by the office of the judge? Or if a slave is in flight, likewise, if I guarantee by the office of the judge that I will restore him if he comes into my power, I ought to be absolved.
unde quidam putant bona fide emptorem ab eo qui uim intulit comparantem non teneri nec eum qui dono accepit uel cui res legata est.
Hence some think that a good faith purchaser buying from the person who applied force is not held, nor the one who accepted a gift or to whom the thing was bequeathed.
sed rectissime Uiuiano uidetur etiam hos teneri, ne metus, quem passus sum, mihi captiosus sit.
But Vivianus most correctly thinks that these also are held, lest the duress which I suffered should be captious to me.
Pedius quoque libro octauo scribit arbitrium iudicis in restituenda re tale esse, ut eum quidem qui uim admisit iubeat restituere, etiamsi ad alium res peruenit, cum autem ad quem peruenit, etiamsi alius metum fecit, nam in alterius praemium uerti alienum metum non oportet.
Pedius also writes in his eighth book that the arbitrament of the judge in restoring a thing is such that he orders the person who committed force to restore, even if the thing has come to another, but as for the one to whom it has come, even if someone else applied duress; for duress by another ought not to turn to the benefit of someone else.
§4.2.14.6Labeo ait, si quis per metum reus sit constitutus et fideiussorem uolentem dederit, et ipse et fideiussor liberatur: si solus fideiussor metu accessit, non etiam reus, solus fideiussor liberabitur.
Labeo says: if anyone has been made a debtor through duress and has willingly given a guarantor, both he himself and the guarantor are released; if only the guarantor joined through duress, and not also the debtor, only the guarantor will be released.