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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §45.1.109.pr

Presumption in Alternative Stipulations Favoring Debtors

Passage 7456 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Formulates the interpretive rule that in alternative stipulations involving choices of amount or time, the option that is less burdensome to the debtor (the smaller sum or the longer period) is deemed to be the object of the obligation.

[POMPONIUS libro tertio ad Quintum Mucium. ] §45.1.109.prSi ita stipulatus fuero: 'decem aut quindecim dabis?', decem debentur.
[POMPONIUS, book three on Quintus Mucius.] If I have stipulated thus: 'Will you give ten or fifteen?', ten is owed.
item si ita: 'post annum aut biennium dabis?', post biennium debentur, quia in stipulationibus id seruatur, ut quod minus esset quodque longius, esse uideretur in obligationem deductum.
Likewise, if in this way: 'Will you give after a year or two years?', it is owed after two years, because in stipulations this rule is observed: that what is less and what is further off is deemed to have been brought into the obligation.

Notes

  1. §45.1.109.pritem si ita — The verb phrase `stipulatus fuero` is omitted here and must be supplied from the preceding clause `Si ita stipulatus fuero`.
  2. §45.1.109.prquodque — This is the neuter nominative relative pronoun `quod` with the enclitic conjunction `-que`, coordinating `quod minus esset` and `quod longius [esset]`. It is not the neuter form of the indefinite pronoun `quisque` ('each').
  3. §45.1.109.prin obligationem deductum — Together with the preceding `esse`, this forms the perfect passive infinitive `esse deductum`, which serves as the complement of `uideretur` ('is deemed to be'). `in obligationem deducere` is a technical legal idiom meaning 'to bring into the scope of an obligation' or 'to make the subject of a contract'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §45.1.109.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:45.1.109.pr

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