Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.12.17.pr

Purchase of Free Persons under Mandate and Knowledge

Passage 6582 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus discusses how the respective knowledge or ignorance of the mandator and the mandatary (or agent) affects the availability of the action when buying a free person under a mandate.

[PAULUS libro quinquagensimo primo ad edictum. ] §40.12.17.prIn seruo et in eo, qui mandato nostro emit, tale est, ut, si certum hominem mandauero emi sciens liberum esse, licet is, cui mandatum est, ignoret, idem sit: et non competet ei actio.
[PAULUS on the Edict, book fifty-one.] In the case of a slave and of him who buys by our mandate, the rule is such that, if I have mandated a certain person to be bought, knowing that he is free, even though he to whom the mandate was given is ignorant of it, the result is the same: and the action will not belong to him.
contra autem, si ego ignoraui, procurator scit, non est mihi deneganda.
On the other hand, if I was ignorant but the procurator knew, it must not be denied to me.

Notes

  1. §40.12.17.prmandauero emi — The verb mandare (to mandate) takes the passive infinitive emi, meaning 'to mandate (a certain person) to be bought.' The subject is the first-person singular (future perfect) in mandauero.
  2. §40.12.17.prsciens liberum esse — sciens is a present participle in the nominative case modifying the implied subject 'I' of mandauero. liberum esse is an accusative-with-infinitive clause functioning as the object of sciens ('knowing that he is free').
  3. §40.12.17.prnon est mihi deneganda — The feminine noun actio (action) is omitted as the subject. deneganda is a gerundive (feminine nominative singular) agreeing with this omitted subject, which, combined with est, expresses necessity or obligation ('must not be denied'). mihi is a dative of agent or indirect object.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.12.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.12.17.pr

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