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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §45.1.103.pr

Invalidity of Stipulations Involving a Free Person

Passage 7450 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that a free person cannot be the subject of a contract, and such a contract is legally void just as one involving a deceased person or enemy territory.

[IDEM libro quinto pandectarum. ] §45.1.103.prLiber homo in stipulatum deduci non potest, quia nec dari oportere intendi nec aestimatio eius praestari potest, non magis quam si quis dari stipulatus fuerit mortuum hominem aut fundum hostium.
[THE SAME, book five of the Pandects] A free man cannot be made the subject of a stipulation, because it can neither be claimed that he ought to be given, nor can his valuation be paid, any more than if someone had stipulated for a dead slave or the land of an enemy to be given.

Notes

  1. §45.1.103.prdari oportere intendi — intendi is a passive infinitive depending on potest ("to be claimed in a lawsuit"), and dari oportere ("that [he] ought to be given") is an accusative with infinitive clause expressing the substance of this legal claim (intentio). It shows that since a free person is not a commercial object, no civil law obligation (oportere) to deliver him can be sued upon.
  2. §45.1.103.prnon magis quam si — A comparative negative construction ("no more than if"), which emphasizes that the primary proposition is just as legally impossible (void) as the hypothetical scenarios that follow.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §45.1.103.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:45.1.103.pr

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