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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §45.1.89.pr

Tense of Wording and Scope of Debts in Lease Stipulations

Passage 7436 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that in a stipulation made during the third year of a five-year lease, a formula using the present tense covers only currently existing debts, whereas adding the future tense also includes future obligations.

[IDEM libro nono ad Plautium. ] §45.1.89.prSi a colono, cui fundum in quinquennium locaueram, post tres annos ita stipulatus fuero: 'quidquid te dare facere oportet?', non amplius in stipulationem deducitur, quam quod iam dari oportet: in stipulationem enim deducitur, quod iam dari oportet.
[THE SAME, On Plautius, Book 9] If, after three years, I have made a stipulation as follows with a tenant to whom I had leased a tract of land for five years: 'Whatever you ought to give or do?', there is no more brought into the stipulation than what already ought to be given; for that is brought into the stipulation which already ought to be given.
si autem adiciatur 'oportebitue', etiam futura obligatio deducitur.
But if 'or shall be obliged' is added, a future obligation is also brought in.

Notes

  1. §45.1.89.prstipulatus fuero — The future perfect of the deponent verb stipulor (to stipulate, to exact a promise). It has an active meaning from the perspective of the creditor ('if I shall have exacted a promise'). It takes the prepositional phrase a colono (from the tenant) to indicate the promising party (debtor).
  2. §45.1.89.proportebitue — A combination of oportebit, the future tense of the impersonal verb oportet (it is necessary/behooves), and the disjunctive enclitic -ue (or). This highlights a tense-based distinction where the present oportet covers only currently accrued debts, whereas the future form extends the stipulation to cover future liabilities.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §45.1.89.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:45.1.89.pr

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