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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §4.3.37.pr

Seller's Mere Puffery and Fraudulent Misrepresentation

Passage 698 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

While a seller's mere puffery to recommend goods has no legal force, statements made with the intent to deceive the buyer do not give rise to a contract-based action but rather to an action on fraud.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo quarto ad Sabinum. ] §4.3.37.prQuod uenditor ut commendet dicit, sic habendum, quasi neque dictum neque promissum est.
[ULPIANUS, in the forty-fourth book on Sabinus.] What a seller says in order to recommend his goods must be so regarded as if it had been neither said nor promised.
si uero decipiendi emptoris causa dictum est, aeque sic habendum est, ut non nascatur aduersus dictum promissumue actio, sed de dolo actio.
But if it was said for the purpose of deceiving the buyer, it must equally be so regarded that an action does not arise on the statement or promise, but an action on fraud.

Notes

  1. §4.3.37.prut commendet — A purpose clause introduced by ut with the subjunctive present third-person singular verb commendet, showing the subjective intent of the seller to recommend the goods.
  2. §4.3.37.prdecipiendi emptoris causa — A gerundive construction expressing purpose, where the genitive gerundive decipiendi agrees with the noun emptoris, used in combination with the ablative causa.
  3. §4.3.37.prut non nascatur — A substantive or result clause introduced by ut that defines the specific consequence or content of aeque sic habendum est ("it must equally be so regarded").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §4.3.37.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:4.3.37.pr

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