Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §42.1.11.pr

Assessment of Damages for Default on a Fixed Date

Passage 6862 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Celsus explains the standard for assessing damages in a lawsuit when an obligation to be performed on a specific date (the Kalends) is breached, stating that it must be assessed based on the last moment performance was possible.

[CELSUS libro quinto digestorum. ] §42.1.11.prSi kalendis fieri aliquid stipulatus sum, nempe quandocumque post kalendas accepto iudicio tanti tamen aestimanda lis est, quanti interfuit mea kalendis id fieri: ex eo enim tempore quidque aestimatur, quod nouissime solui poterit.
[CELSUS in the fifth book of the Digests.] If I have stipulated for something to be done on the Kalends, surely, whenever the trial is accepted after the Kalends, the damages must nevertheless be assessed at as much as it was to my interest for it to be done on the Kalends; for everything is assessed from that time at which it could have been performed at the latest.

Notes

  1. §42.1.11.praccepto iudicio — An ablative absolute construction with the noun iudicium and the participle accepto. In Roman civil procedure, it refers to the stage where the trial is accepted by the parties, reaching the joinder of issue (litis contestatio).
  2. §42.1.11.printerfuit mea — The perfect tense of the impersonal verb interest combined with the ablative feminine singular of the possessive pronoun mea, meaning "it was of importance to me" or "it was to my interest". In this idiom, the degree of concern is expressed by the genitive (here the relative quanti) and the subject of interest is expressed by the infinitive clause (id fieri).
  3. §42.1.11.prnouissime solui poterit — A relative clause introduced by quod, referring back to the antecedent eo tempore. The adverb nouissime means "at the latest" or "at the very last", here pointing to the due date of the obligation (the Kalends). Literally, "at which it could have been performed at the latest."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §42.1.11.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:42.1.11.pr

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