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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §43.16.18.pr-43.16.18.1

Violence of Tenant and Buyer in Land Sale and the Interdict

Passage 7094 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the availability of interdicts against a tenant who blocked a purchaser from entering a sold property, and against the purchaser who later expelled the tenant by force, while denying relief to a purchaser acting under an unlawful mandate; it also states that one may proceed under the interdict *unde vi* even while an ownership lawsuit is pending.

[PAPINIANUS libro uicensimo sexto quaestionum. ] §43.16.18.prCum fundum qui locauerat uendidisset, iussit emptorem in uacuam possessionem ire, quem colonus intrare prohibuit: postea emptor ui colonum expulit: de interdictis unde ui quaesitum est.
[PAPINIANUS, in the twenty-sixth book of Questions.] When a person who had leased a tract of land sold it, he directed the purchaser to enter into vacant possession, but the tenant prevented him from entering; subsequently, the purchaser expelled the tenant by force: a question arose concerning the interdicts unde vi.
placebat colonum interdicto uenditori teneri, quia nihil interesset, ipsum an alium ex uoluntate eius missum intrare prohibuerit: neque enim ante omissam possessionem uideri, quam si tradita fuisset emptori, quia nemo eo animo esset, ut possessionem omitteret propter emptorem, quam emptor adeptus non fuisset.
It was held that the tenant was liable to the seller under the interdict, because it made no difference whether he prevented the seller himself or another person sent with his consent from entering; for possession is not deemed to have been lost before it has been delivered to the purchaser, since no one would have the intention of relinquishing possession for the sake of a purchaser, which the purchaser had not yet acquired.
emptorem quoque, qui postea uim adhibuit, et ipsum interdicto colono teneri: non enim ab ipso, sed a uenditore per uim fundum esse possessum, cui possessio esset ablata.
It was also held that the purchaser himself, who subsequently employed force, was liable to the tenant under the interdict; for the land was possessed by force not from him, but from the seller, from whom possession had been taken.
quaesitum est, an emptori succurri debeat, si uoluntate uenditoris colonum postea ui expulisset.
The question was asked whether the purchaser ought to be assisted if, with the consent of the seller, he had subsequently expelled the tenant by force.
dixi non esse iuuandum, qui mandatum illicitum susceperit.
I stated that he who undertook an unlawful mandate should not be assisted.
§43.16.18.1Eum, qui fundum uindicauit ab eo, cum quo interdicto unde ui potuit experiri, pendente iudicio nihilo minus interdicto recte agere placuit.
It was held that he who has claimed a tract of land from the person against whom he could have proceeded under the interdict unde vi, may, while the lawsuit is pending, nevertheless properly proceed under the interdict.

Notes

  1. §43.16.18.prplacebat — An impersonal verb meaning "it was held" or "it was the accepted opinion." It governs several accusative with infinitive (ACI) constructions in succession: colonum ... teneri (that the tenant was liable), neque ... uideri (that possession is not deemed), and emptorem quoque ... teneri (that the purchaser also was liable), outlining the jurists' reasoning and conclusions.
  2. §43.16.18.prcui possessio esset ablata — The antecedent of the relative pronoun dative cui is the preceding uenditore. Since the purchaser had not yet acquired possession, it was the seller (uenditore), not the purchaser, from whom possession had been taken by the tenant's resistance. Consequently, when the purchaser expelled the tenant by force, he acted without possessory right and became liable to the tenant under the interdict.
  3. §43.16.18.1Eum, qui fundum uindicauit — This is an accusative with infinitive (ACI) construction governed by the main verb of the sentence, placuit ("it was held/resolved"). Eum serves as the subject accusative of the infinitive recte agere ("properly proceed"), while the qui clause modifies Eum.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §43.16.18.pr-43.16.18.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:43.16.18.pr-43.16.18.1

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