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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.2.21.pr-41.2.21.2

Transfer of Possession and Jettisoned Goods

Passage 6719 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Javolenus discusses the transfer of a possession one does not personally hold (via precarium), explains that shipwrecked or jettisoned goods are not abandoned and thus exempt from usucapion, and rules that possession returns to the owner if a precarium holder leases the thing from them.

[IAUOLENUS libro septimo ex Cassio. ] §41.2.21.prInterdum eius possessionem, cuius ipsi non habemus, alii tradere possumus, ueluti cum is, qui pro herede rem possidebat, antequam dominus fieret, precario ab herede eam rogauit.
[JAVOLENUS, in the seventh book of his epitomes of Cassius.] Sometimes we can transfer to another the possession of a thing of which we ourselves do not have possession, for example, when he who was possessing a thing as heir, before he became owner, requested it from the heir as a precarium.
§41.2.21.1Quod ex naufragio expulsum est, usucapi non potest, quoniam non est in derelicto, sed in deperdito.
What has been cast up from a shipwreck cannot be acquired by usucapion, since it is not classified as abandoned, but as lost.
§41.2.21.2Idem iuris esse existimo in his rebus, quae iactae sunt: quoniam non potest uideri id pro derelicto habitum, quod salutis causa interim dimissum est.
I think that the same rule of law applies to those things which have been thrown overboard; since that which has been temporarily cast away for the sake of safety cannot be deemed to be abandoned.
Qui alienam rem precario rogauit, si eandem a domino conduxit, possessio ad dominum reuertitur.
He who has requested another's thing as a precarium, if he has hired the same thing from the owner, the possession returns to the owner.

Notes

  1. §41.2.21.preius possessionem, cuius ipsi non habemus — The demonstrative pronoun 'eius' (genitive) refers to a thing and modifies 'possessionem'. 'cuius' is a genitive relative pronoun introducing a relative clause where 'possessionem' is understood (cuius [possessionem] ipsi non habemus), meaning 'the possession of a thing of which [possession] we ourselves do not have'.
  2. §41.2.21.2Qui alienam rem precario rogauit, si eandem a domino conduxit, possessio ad dominum reuertitur. — The relative clause 'Qui... rogauit' stands at the beginning of the sentence as if it were the subject, but since the subject of the main clause is 'possessio', it results in an anacoluthon (grammatical inconsistency). Functionally, it serves to introduce the topic: 'As for the person who requested another's thing as a precarium, if he...'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.2.21.pr-41.2.21.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.2.21.pr-41.2.21.2

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