[PAULUS libro primo sententiarum. ] §4.4.24.prQuod si minor sua sponte negotiis maioris interuenerit, restituendus erit, ne maiori damnum accidat.
[PAULUS in the first book of Opinions.] But if a minor of his own accord intervenes in the business of an adult, he must be restored, lest loss should accrue to the adult.
quod si hoc facere recusauerit, tunc si conuentus fuerit negotiorum gestorum, aduersus hanc actionem non restituitur: sed compellendus est sic ei cedere auxilio in integrum restitutionis, ut procuratorem eum in rem suam faciat, ut possit per hunc modum damnum sibi propter minorem contingens resarcire.
But if he refuses to do this, then, if he is sued in an action for business management, he is not restored against this action: but he must be compelled to cede the benefit of restitution in integrum to the adult in such a way as to make him a procurator in rem suam, so that by this means the adult can make good the loss occurring to himself on account of the minor.
§4.4.24.1Non semper autem ea, quae cum minoribus geruntur, rescindenda sunt, sed ad bonum et aequum redigenda sunt, ne magno incommodo huius aetatis homines adficiantur nemine cum his contrahente et quodammodo commercio eis interdicetur.
However, transactions carried out with minors are not always to be rescinded, but are to be reduced to what is good and fair, lest people of this age suffer great disadvantage from no one contracting with them, and their being in a manner debarred from commerce.
itaque nisi aut manifesta circumscriptio sit aut tam neglegenter in ea causa uersati sunt, praetor interponere se non debet.
Therefore, unless there is either manifest fraud or they have conducted themselves so negligently in the matter, the praetor ought not to intervene.
§4.4.24.2Scaeuola noster aiebat, si quis iuuenili leuitate ductus omiserit uel repudiauerit hereditatem uel bonorum possessionem, si quidem omnia in integro sint, omnimodo audiendus est: si uero iam distracta hereditate et negotiis finitis ad paratam pecuniam laboribus substituti ueniat, repellendus est: multoque parcius ex hac causa heredem minoris restituendum esse.
Our friend Scaevola used to say that if anyone, led by youthful levity, has omitted or repudiated an inheritance or the possession of goods, if indeed everything is still intact, he ought by all means to be heard; but if, the inheritance having already been sold and the transactions finished, he comes for the money prepared by the labors of the substitute, he must be rejected; and that the heir of a minor is to be restored much more sparingly on this ground.
§4.4.24.3Si seruus uel filius familias minorem circumscripserit, pater dominusue quod ad eum peruenerit restituere iubendus est, quod non peruenerit ex peculio eorum praestare: si ex neutro satisfiet et dolus serui interuenerit, aut uerberibus castigandus aut noxae dedendus erit.
If a slave or a filius familias defrauds a minor, the father or master must be ordered to restore what has reached him, and to make good from their peculium what has not reached him. If satisfaction is not made from either source and the fraud of the slave intervened, he must either be chastised with lashes or surrendered as noxa.
sed et si filius familias hoc fecit, ob dolum suum condemnabitur.
But even if a filius familias did this, he will be condemned on account of his own fraud.
§4.4.24.4Restitutio autem ita facienda est, ut unusquisque integrum ius suum recipiat.
Moreover, restitution must be made in such a way that each person recovers his own entire right.
itaque si in uendendo fundo circumscriptus restituetur, iubeat praetor emptorem fundum cum fructibus reddere et pretium recipere, nisi si tunc dederit, cum eum perditurum non ignoraret: sicuti facit in ea pecunia, quae ei consumpturo creditur, sed parcius in uenditione, quia aes alienum ei soluitur, quod facere necesse est, credere autem non est necesse.
Therefore, if a minor defrauded in selling land is restored, the praetor should order the buyer to return the land with its fruits and to receive back the price, unless the buyer paid it at a time when he was not ignorant that the minor would waste it; just as he does in the case of money lent to a minor who is going to consume it, but more sparingly in a sale, because a debt is being paid to him, which it is necessary to do, whereas there is no necessity to lend.
nam et si origo contractus ita constitit, ut infirmanda sit, si tamen necesse fuit pretium solui, non omnimodo emptor damno adficiendus est.
For even if the origin of the contract was such that it ought to be invalidated, yet if it was necessary for the price to be paid, the buyer ought not in every case to be subjected to loss.
§4.4.24.5Ex hoc edicto nulla propria actio uel cautio proficiscitur: totum enim hoc pendet ex praetoris cognitione.
No proper action or caution arises from this edict: for this whole matter depends on the cognitio of the praetor.