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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §42.1.31.pr

Payment Grace Periods and Pledge Seizure for Contumacy

Passage 6883 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text outlines the general principles for granting and extending payment deadlines to debtors, and presents the text of the imperial rescript of the deified Pius allowing the seizure and sale of pledges against contumacious debtors.

[CALLISTRATUS libro secundo cognitionum. ] §42.1.31.prDebitoribus non tantum petentibus dies ad soluendum dandi sunt, sed et prorogandi, si res exigat: si qui tamen per contumaciam magis, quam quia non possint explicare pecuniam, differant solutionem, pignoribus captis compellendi sunt ad satisfaciendum ex forma, quam Cassio proconsuli diuus Pius in haec uerba rescripsit: 'His, qui fatebuntur debere aut ex re iudicata necesse habebunt reddere, tempus ad soluendum detur, quod sufficere pro facultate cuiusque uidebitur: eorum, qui intra diem uel ab initio datum uel ex ea causa postea prorogatum sibi non reddiderint, pignora capi eaque, si intra duos menses non soluerint, uendantur: si quid ex pretiis supersit, reddatur ei, cuius pignora uendita erant'.
[CALLISTRATUS, in the second book on Cognitions.] Time for payment must not only be granted to debtors upon their request, but also must be extended if the circumstances require it. However, if any persons should delay payment more out of contumacy than because they cannot raise the money, they must be compelled to make satisfaction by the seizure of pledges, according to the form which the deified Pius wrote back to the proconsul Cassius in these words: 'To those who admit that they owe, or who are under the necessity of restoring by virtue of a judgment, a period for payment shall be given which seems sufficient according to the capacity of each. In the case of those who do not pay within the time granted to them either from the beginning or subsequently extended for that reason, their pledges shall be seized, and if they do not pay within two months, these pledges shall be sold; if any surplus remains from the proceeds, it shall be returned to him whose pledges were sold.'

Notes

  1. §42.1.31.prnon tantum petentibus dies ad soluendum dandi sunt, sed et prorogandi — The subject of the main verb dandi sunt is dies, which is also shared by the ellipted prorogandi (sunt) in the second clause. petentibus is a dative (either used substantively or agreeing with debitoribus) meaning 'to those who request' or 'upon their request'.
  2. §42.1.31.prsibi — The reflexive pronoun sibi refers to the subject of the relative clause qui (the debtors) and modifies datum and prorogatum ('granted to them or extended for them'). Although it could theoretically be interpreted as a dative indirect object of non reddiderint ('have not restored to them [i.e., to the creditors]'), the former construction is syntactically more natural.
  3. §42.1.31.prpignora capi eaque ... uendantur — In the indirect discourse reporting the rescript, the infinitive construction (pignora capi) and the subjunctive (uendantur) are mixed. capi is a present passive infinitive with pignora as its subject, representing an implied impersonal verb of command or necessity (such as oportet or iubetur), or continuing the jussive force from the preceding tempus ... detur.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §42.1.31.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:42.1.31.pr

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