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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §4.3.20.pr-4.3.20.1

Action for Fraud in Loan Repayment by Slaves and False Acquittal

Passage 681 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the availability of an action for fraud in a case where a slave repays a master with a loan from a third party, and in a case where an acquittal is allowed based on a false representation regarding a partnership.

[PAULUS libro undecimo ad edictum. ] §4.3.20.prSeruus tuus cum tibi deberet nec soluendo esset, hortatu tuo pecuniam mutuam a me accepit et tibi soluit: Labeo ait de dolo malo actionem in te dandam, quia nec de peculio utilis sit, cum in peculio nihil sit, nec in rem domini uersum uideatur, cum ob debitum dominus acceperit.
[PAULUS libro undecimo ad edictum.] When your slave owed a debt to you and was insolvent, he received a loan of money from me at your instigation and paid it to you. Labeo says that an action for fraud ought to be granted against you, because an action on the peculium would not be effective, since there is nothing in the peculium, nor would it seem to have been turned to the master's profit, since the master received it on account of a debt.
§4.3.20.1Si persuaseris mihi nullam societatem tibi fuisse cum eo, cui heres sum, et ob id iudicio absolui te passus sim: dandam mihi de dolo actionem Iulianus scribit.
If you should convince me that you had no partnership with the person to whom I am heir, and for that reason I should allow you to be acquitted in a trial, Julianus writes that an action for fraud ought to be granted to me.

Notes

  1. 4.3.20.prnec soluendo esset — The phrase soluendo esse with the dative soluendo is an idiomatic expression meaning "to be solvent"; with nec, it indicates insolvency.
  2. 4.3.20.prde peculio utilis sit — de peculio refers to the action concerning the peculium (actio de peculio), and utilis (effective, profitable) means that, since there is nothing in the peculium (cum in peculio nihil sit), bringing this action would be of no practical benefit to the plaintiff.
  3. 4.3.20.prin rem domini uersum — Meaning "turned to the master's profit/property," which is the requirement for the action on the master's profit (actio de in rem verso). Here, it is interpreted that when the master receives money as payment for an existing debt, it is merely a normal receipt of payment and is not considered to have been "turned to the master's profit."
  4. 4.3.20.1absolui te passus sim — te is the subject accusative of the passive infinitive absolui. passus sim is the first-person singular perfect subjunctive of the deponent verb patior (to allow, permit).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §4.3.20.pr-4.3.20.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:4.3.20.pr-4.3.20.1

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