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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §44.2.25.pr-44.2.25.2

Plea of Res Judicata in Inheritance and Defect Claims

Passage 7238 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Julian discusses the application and exceptions of the defence of res iudicata (exceptio rei iudicatae), covering cases of inheritance claims, the buyer's alternative remedies for defects, and a renewed claim by an authorized agent.

[IDEM libro quinquagensimo primo digestorum. ] §44.2.25.prSi is, qui heres non erat, hereditatem petierit et postea heres factus eandem hereditatem petet, exceptione rei iudicatae non summouebitur.
[THE SAME, on the Digest, book fifty-one.] If he who was not the heir has claimed the inheritance, and having afterwards become the heir claims the same inheritance, he will not be barred by the exception of res iudicata.
§44.2.25.1Est in potestate emptoris intra sex menses, redhibitoria agere mallet an ea quae datur, quanti minoris homo cum ueniret fuerit.
It is within the power of the buyer within six months, whether he prefers to bring the action for rescission, or that which is given for how much less the slave was worth when he was sold.
nam posterior actio etiam redhibitionem continet, si tale uitium in homine est, ut eum ob id actor empturus non fuerit: quare uere dicetur eum, qui alterutra earum egerit, si altera postea agat, rei iudicatae exceptione summoueri.
For the latter action also includes rescission, if there is such a defect in the slave that the plaintiff would not have bought him on that account: therefore it will be truly said that he who has brought either of them, if he afterwards brings the other, is barred by the exception of res iudicata.
§44.2.25.2Si te negotiis meis optuleris et fundum nomine meo petieris, deinde ego hanc petitionem tuam ratam non habuero, sed mandauero tibi, ut ex integro eundem fundum peteres, exceptio rei iudicatae non obstabit: alia enim res facta est interueniente mandatu.
If you have presented yourself for my affairs and claimed a tract of land in my name, and then I have not ratified this claim of yours, but have mandated you to claim the same land anew, the exception of res iudicata will not stand in the way: for the matter has become different by the intervention of the mandate.
idem est, si non in rem, sed in personam actum fuerit.
The same is true if the action was not in rem but in personam.

Notes

  1. §44.2.25.1redhibitoria — The noun actione (action) is omitted, functioning as an ablative of means: redhibitoria [actione] agere (to act by means of the action for rescission). Alternatively, redhibitoria is treated as a substantivized feminine singular adjective. Similarly, in the contrasting phrase ea [actione] quae datur..., actione is also omitted.
  2. §44.2.25.1mallet — Subjunctive imperfect. Although the main verb Est is in the present tense, the imperfect subjunctive is used in the indirect question to express a potential or hypothetical inclination of the buyer ("which he would prefer, if he were to choose").
  3. §44.2.25.2interueniente mandatu — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the present participle interueniente and the noun mandatu (ablative singular of mandatus, mandate). It expresses an attendant circumstance or cause: "with a mandate intervening" or "by the intervention of the mandate."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §44.2.25.pr-44.2.25.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:44.2.25.pr-44.2.25.2

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