[ULPIANUS libro quadragesimo octauo ad Sabinum. ] §45.1.1.prStipulatio non potest confici nisi utroque loquente: et ideo neque mutus neque surdus neque infans stipulationem contrahere possunt: nec absens quidem, quoniam exaudire inuicem debent.
A stipulation cannot be concluded unless both parties speak; and therefore neither a mute, nor a deaf person, nor an infant can contract a stipulation; nor indeed an absent person, because they must hear each other.
si quis igitur ex his uult stipulari, per seruum praesentem stipuletur, et adquiret ei ex stipulatu actionem.
If, therefore, any of these wishes to stipulate, let him stipulate through a slave who is present, and he will acquire for him an action on the stipulation.
item si quis obligari uelit, iubeat et erit quod iussu obligatus.
Likewise, if anyone wishes to be bound, let him order, and he will be bound by what was ordered.
§45.1.1.1Qui praesens interrogauit, si antequam sibi responderetur discessit, inutilem efficit stipulationem: sin uero praesens interrogauit, mox discessit et reuerso responsum est, obligat: interuallum enim medium non uitiauit obligationem.
He who, being present, questioned, if he departed before he was answered, makes the stipulation useless; but if indeed he questioned while present, then departed, and on his return was answered, he binds; for the intervening interval did not vitiate the obligation.
§45.1.1.2Si quis ita interroget 'dabis?' responderit 'quid ni?', et is utique in ea causa est, ut obligetur: contra si sine uerbis adnuisset.
If anyone should ask thus: 'Will you give?' and the other answers: 'Why not?', he too is certainly in such a position as to be bound; on the contrary, if he had nodded without words.
non tantum autem ciuiliter, sed nec naturaliter obligatur, qui ita adnuit: et ideo recte dictum est non obligari pro eo nec fideiussorem quidem.
He who nods in this way is bound not only not civilly, but not even naturally; and therefore it has been rightly said that not even a surety is bound for him.
§45.1.1.3Si quis simpliciter interrogatus responderit: 'si illud factum erit, dabo', non obligari eum constat: aut si ita interrogatus: 'intra kalendas quintas?' responderit: 'dabo idibus', aeque non obligatur: non enim sic respondit, ut interrogatus est.
If anyone, being questioned simply, answers: 'If that shall be done, I will give', it is established that he is not bound; or if, being questioned thus: 'Within the fifth Kalends?' he answers: 'I will give on the Ides', he is equally not bound; for he did not answer as he was questioned.
et uersa uice si interrogatus fuerit sub condicione, responderit pure, dicendum erit eum non obligari.
And conversely, if he was questioned under a condition and answered unconditionally, it must be said that he is not bound.
cum adicit aliquid uel detrahit obligationi, semper probandum est uitiatam esse obligationem, nisi stipulatori diuersitas responsionis ilico placuerit: tunc enim alia stipulatio contracta esse uidetur.
Whenever one adds something to or subtracts from an obligation, it must always be held that the obligation is vitiated, unless the difference in the answer immediately pleases the stipulator; for then another stipulation is deemed to have been contracted.
§45.1.1.4Si stipulanti mihi 'decem' tu 'uiginti' respondeas, non esse contractam obligationem nisi in decem constat.
If to me stipulating 'ten', you answer 'twenty', it is established that the obligation is not contracted except for ten.
ex contrario quoque si me 'uiginti' interrogante tu 'decem' respondeas, obligatio nisi in decem non erit contracta: licet enim oportet congruere summam, attamen manifestissimum est uiginti et decem inesse.
Conversely also, if when I ask 'twenty', you answer 'ten', the obligation will not be contracted except for ten; for although the sum ought to agree, yet it is most manifest that ten is contained in twenty.
§45.1.1.5Sed si mihi Pamphilum stipulanti tu Pamphilum et Stichum spoponderis, Stichi adiectionem pro superuacuo habendam puto: nam si tot sunt stipulationes, quot corpora, duae sunt quodammodo stipulationes, una utilis, alia inutilis, neque uitiatur utilis per hanc inutilem.
But if to me stipulating Pamphilus, you promise Pamphilus and Stichus, I think that the addition of Stichus should be regarded as superfluous; for if there are as many stipulations as there are bodies, there are in a certain way two stipulations, one useful, the other useless, and the useful one is not vitiated by this useless one.
§45.1.1.6Eadem an alia lingua respondeatur, nihil interest.
Whether the answer is made in the same or in another language makes no difference.
proinde si quis Latine interrogauerit, respondeatur ei Graece, dummodo congruenter respondeatur, obligatio constituta est: idem per contrarium.
Therefore, if anyone questions in Latin, and he is answered in Greek, as long as it is answered congruently, the obligation is established; the same conversely.
sed utrum hoc usque ad Graecum sermonem tantum protrahimus an uero et ad alium, Poenum forte uel Assyrium uel cuius alterius linguae, dubitari potest.
But whether we extend this only as far as the Greek language, or indeed also to another, such as Punic perhaps or Assyrian or that of any other tongue, can be doubted.
et scriptura Sabini, sed et uerum patitur, ut omnis sermo contineat uerborum obligationem, ita tamen, ut uterque alterius linguam intellegat siue per se siue per uerum interpretem.
And Sabinus' writing, but also the truth, allows that every language contains an obligation of words, provided, however, that each understands the other's language, either by himself or through a true interpreter.