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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §45.2.4.pr

Validity of Singular and Plural Responses by Joint Debtors

Passage 7493 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius explains that joint debtors are validly bound regardless of whether they answer in the singular or plural to a question asked in the plural or singular.

[POMPONIUS libro uicensimo quarto ad Sabinum. ] §45.2.4.prDuo rei promittendi siue ita interrogati 'spondetis?' respondeant 'spondeo' aut 'spondemus', siue ita interrogati 'spondes?' respondissent 'spondemus', recte obligantur.
[POMPONIUS in the twenty-fourth book to Sabinus.] Whether two joint debtors of promising, when asked "do you promise?" (plural), answer "I promise" or "we promise", or when asked "do you promise?" (singular), they had answered "we promise", they are validly bound.

Notes

  1. §45.2.4.prDuo rei promittendi — The subject of the main verb recte obligantur. The participles interrogati in the siue... siue... clauses agree with this subject in gender, number, and case.
  2. §45.2.4.prrespondeant ... respondissent — Although there is an asymmetry in tense between the parallel siue clauses (present subjunctive respondeant and pluperfect subjunctive respondissent), both represent hypothetical conditions with little difference in practical meaning.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §45.2.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:45.2.4.pr

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