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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.10.4.pr-41.10.4.2

Usucapion of Stolen Slave's Offspring and Partitioned Property

Passage 6850 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius discusses the usucapion of a child born to a stolen slave bought in good faith, detailing how the finder's obligation to inform the owner affects the process, alongside cases of family partition and mistaken delivery of a bequest.

[IDEM libro trigensimo secundo ad Sabinum. ] §41.10.4.prSi ancillam furtiuam emisti fide bona ex ea natum et apud te conceptum est ita possedisti, ut intra constitutum usucapioni tempus cognosceres matrem eius furtiuam esse, Trebatius omni modo, quod ita possessum esset, usucaptum esse.
[THE SAME, from his thirty-second book on Sabinus.] If you bought a stolen female slave in good faith and possessed the child born of her and conceived while in your keeping in such a way that, within the time established for usucapion, you came to know that her mother was stolen, Trebatius thought that what was so possessed was acquired by usucapion in every case.
ego sic puto distinguendum, ut, si nescieris intra statutum tempus, cuius id mancipium esset, aut si scieris neque potueris certiorem dominum facere, aut si potueris quoque et feceris certiorem, usucaperes: sin uero, cum scires et posses, non feceris certiorem, contra esse: tum enim clam possedisse uideberis, neque idem et pro suo et clam possidere potest.
I think a distinction should be made as follows: if you did not know within the prescribed time whose slave it was, or if you knew but could not inform the owner, or if you could also inform the owner and did so, you would acquire by usucapion; but if, when you knew and were able to, you did not inform the owner, the contrary is true; for then you will be deemed to have possessed secretly, and the same person cannot possess both as his own and secretly.
§41.10.4.1Si pater cum filiis bona quae habebat partitus sit et ex ea causa post mortem patris ea teneant, quod inter eos conueniret, ut ea diuisio rata esset: usucapio his procedet pro suo in his rebus, quae alienae in bonis patris inueniuntur.
If a father partitioned the property he had with his sons, and on that ground they hold it after the father's death because it was agreed between them that the partition should be valid, usucapion as his own will proceed for them in those things which are found to belong to another in the father's estate.
§41.10.4.2Quod legatum non sit, ab herede tamen perperam traditum sit, placet a legatario usucapi, quia pro suo possidet.
What was not bequeathed, but was nevertheless delivered by the heir by mistake, it is held that it is acquired by usucapion by the legatee, because he possesses it as his own.

Notes

  1. §41.10.4.prTrebatius omni modo, quod ita possessum esset, usucaptum esse — An accusative-and-infinitive construction (AcI) where the main governing verb of thinking or saying (such as putat or ait) is omitted. The subjunctive pluperfect possessum esset in the relative clause is due to indirect speech, representing Trebatius's perspective.
  2. §41.10.4.prita possedisti, ut intra constitutum usucapioni tempus cognosceres — The correlative construction ita ... ut introduces a clause of result. Following the main verb possedisti (indicative perfect), the verb cognosceres in the ut-clause is in the subjunctive imperfect, following the sequence of tenses for a historical main verb, indicating the outcome of possession where one 'came to know' within the period.
  3. §41.10.4.1quod inter eos conueniret — The conjunction quod introduces a causal clause. The subjunctive imperfect conueniret is used here because the reason is presented not merely as an objective fact, but as the subjective or agreed-upon basis under which the sons hold the property after their father's death (subjunctive of alleged or subjective cause).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.10.4.pr-41.10.4.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.10.4.pr-41.10.4.2

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