Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.3.19.pr

Tacking of Possession for Usucapion upon Resolutive Sale

Passage 6771 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses how, in a sale subject to a resolutive condition, if the condition is fulfilled and the sale dissolved, the buyer's period of possession is added to the seller's for the purpose of usucapion, drawing an analogy to redhibition.

[IAUOLENUS libro primo epistularum. ] §41.3.19.prSi hominem emisti, ut, si aliqua condicio extitisset, inemptus fieret, et is tibi traditus est et postea condicio emptionem resoluit: tempus, quo apud emptorem fuit, accedere uenditori debere existimo, quoniam eo genere retro acta uenditio esset redhibitioni similis, in qua non dubito tempus eius qui redhibuerit uenditori accessurum, quoniam ea uenditio proprie dici non potest.
[IAVOLENUS, Letters, book 1] If you bought a slave on the terms that, if a certain condition should occur, the purchase should be undone, and he was delivered to you, and later the condition dissolved the sale: I think that the time during which he was with the buyer ought to be added to the seller's time, since a sale undone in that manner would be similar to a redhibition, in which case I do not doubt that the time of the person who made the redhibition will be added to the seller's, because that cannot properly be called a sale.

Notes

  1. 41.3.19.prut, si aliqua condicio extitisset, inemptus fieret — The ut clause functions to express the terms or specific agreement attached to the purchase (emisti). Inemptus fieret (the purchase should be undone/unbought) describes the result that occurs if the condition in the si clause is fulfilled.
  2. 41.3.19.prtempus, quo apud emptorem fuit, accedere uenditori debere — An accusative with infinitive construction acting as the object of existimo. Tempus is the subject accusative, debere is the governing infinitive, and the complementary infinitive accedere (to be added) takes the dative uenditori (to the seller). This refers to the addition of possession periods (accessio temporis) in usucapion.
  3. 41.3.19.prretro acta — Perfect participle of retroago (to drive back, undo retroactively), modifying uenditio to mean 'a sale retroactively undone' or 'cancelled with retroactive effect.'
  4. 41.3.19.prtempus eius qui redhibuerit — Eius is a genitive pronoun acting as the antecedent of the relative clause qui redhibuerit. Redhibere refers to returning a purchased item (typically defective) to cancel the contract; thus, eius qui redhibuerit means 'of the person who made the redhibition' (i.e., the buyer who returned the property).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.3.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.3.19.pr

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