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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.12.21.pr-40.12.21.1

Penal Nature, Time Limit, and Heirs in Double Actions

Passage 6586 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus explains that the action for double recovery regarding fraudulent sale of a free person as a slave is penal, meaning payment by one debtor does not discharge the other, it is subject to a one-year limitation, cannot be brought against heirs, and is not extinguished by manumission.

[MODESTINUS libro primo de poenis. ] §40.12.21.prutique eius duplum, quod propter emptionem uel dedit uel obligatus est.
[MODESTINUS on Penalties, book one.] at all events, double of that which he either gave or became obligated [to pay] on account of the purchase.
secundum quae id, quod alter eorum soluerit, nihil ad exonerandum alterum pertinebit, quia placuit hanc actionem poenalem esse.
According to which, what one of them has paid will in no way avail to exonerate the other, because it has been held that this action is penal.
et ideo post annum non datur nec cum successoribus, cum sit poenalis, agetur.
And therefore, it is not granted after a year, nor, since it is penal, will it be brought against successors.
§40.12.21.1Actionem, quae ex hoc edicto oritur, manumissione non extingui rectissime dicetur, quia uerum est auctorem conueniri non posse, post quem ad eum, qui ad libertatem proclamauit, perueniebatur.
It will be most correctly said that the action which arises from this edict is not extinguished by manumission, because it is true that the seller cannot be sued, after whom resort was had to him who claimed his freedom.

Notes

  1. §40.12.21.prutique eius duplum — Although this fragment is taken from Modestinus, it has been directly connected by the compilers to the end of the preceding text by Ulpian (D. 40.12.20.4 "...in duplum actio est"). Consequently, this phrase functions as an appositive explaining the specific content of the "action for double" mentioned in Ulpian's text.
  2. §40.12.21.prcum successoribus... agetur — "cum successoribus... agetur" means "action will be brought against the successors." The preposition "cum" indicates the opposing party (defendant) in a lawsuit, rather than association. It reflects the principle of classical Roman law that penal actions (actiones poenales) cannot be brought against the heirs of the wrongdoer.
  3. §40.12.21.1perueniebatur — This is the third-person singular imperfect passive of the verb peruenio (to arrive, reach), used impersonally. Literally meaning "it was arrived," it describes the legal process in which the liability or the target of the lawsuit devolves from the seller (auctor) onto the person who claimed his freedom.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.12.21.pr-40.12.21.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.12.21.pr-40.12.21.1

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