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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §45.1.68.pr

Penalty for Failure to Lend and Certainty of Loan

Passage 7415 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text explains that a stipulation for a penalty in case money is not lent is certain and valid, whereas a promise to lend money itself is uncertain because it encompasses the party's actual interest.

[PAULUS libro secundo ad edictum. ] §45.1.68.prSi poenam stipulatus fuero, si mihi pecuniam non credidisses, certa est et utilis stipulatio.
[PAULUS, On the Edict, Book 2] If I have stipulated for a penalty, in case you should not lend me money, the stipulation is certain and valid.
quod si ita stipulatus fuero: 'pecuniam te mihi crediturum spondes?', incerta est stipulatio, quia id uenit in stipulationem, quod mea interest.
But if I have stipulated as follows: 'Do you promise that you will lend me money?', the stipulation is uncertain, because that which is my interest comes into the stipulation.

Notes

  1. §45.1.68.prsi mihi pecuniam non credidisses — The pluperfect subjunctive credidisses expresses the content of the condition agreed upon in the stipulation (the non-performance of lending money), functioning as a subordinate conditional clause within the main condition introduced by the future perfect stipulatus fuero.
  2. §45.1.68.prmea interest — Syntactic construction of the impersonal verb interest (it concerns, it is of importance to). The person concerned is expressed by the ablative feminine singular of the possessive pronoun (mea) rather than the genitive. Here it refers to the 'interest' (or measure of damages) of the creditor, which makes the stipulation uncertain (incerta) because its monetary value is not pre-established.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §45.1.68.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:45.1.68.pr

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