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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.2.19.pr-41.2.19.1

Loss of Possession by Lease and Changing Its Title

Passage 6717 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In response to the question of whether possession ceases when someone who bought another's estate in good faith leases it from the owner, the author answers in the affirmative. He explains that the prohibition against changing the cause of possession does not apply to someone who relinquishes their initial possession and seeks to reacquire it under a different cause.

[MARCELLUS libro septimo decimo digestorum. ] §41.2.19.prQui bona fide alienum fundum emit, eundem a domino conduxit: quaero, utrum desinat possidere an non.
[MARCELLUS, in the seventeenth book of the Digests.] A person who bought another's estate in good faith leased the same from its owner: I ask whether he ceases to possess or not.
respondi: in promptu est, ut possidere desierit.
I answered: it is obvious that he has ceased to possess.
§41.2.19.1Quod scriptum est apud ueteres neminem sibi causam possessionis posse mutare, credibile est de eo cogitatum, qui et corpore et animo possessioni incumbens hoc solum statuit, ut alia ex causa id possideret, non si quis dimissa possessione prima eiusdem rei denuo ex alia causa possessionem nancisci uelit.
As for the rule written among the ancients that no one can change the cause of possession for themselves, it is credible that this was thought of concerning one who, applying himself to the possession both in body and mind, merely decided this, that he would possess it from another cause—not if someone, having relinquished the first possession of the same thing, wishes to acquire possession anew from another cause.

Notes

  1. §41.2.19.prut possidere desierit — An ut-clause introduced by the impersonal expression in promptu est (it is obvious, easy), forming here a substantive clause of result or fact with desierit (perfect subjunctive of desino), meaning "that he has ceased to possess."
  2. §41.2.19.1Quod scriptum est ... credibile est de eo cogitatum — The sentence-initial Quod is a restrictive or introductory use of the relative pronoun ("As for the fact that..."). In the main clause, the infinitive phrase de eo cogitatum [esse] following credibile est has an omitted esse of the perfect passive infinitive, forming the core structure: "it is credible that this was thought of concerning him."
  3. §41.2.19.1dimissa possessione prima — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the perfect participle dimissa and the noun possessione prima, expressing the prior condition "the first possession having been relinquished."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.2.19.pr-41.2.19.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.2.19.pr-41.2.19.1

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