Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §45.3.19.pr

Acquisitions from One Possessor in Dual Bona Fide Possession

Passage 7527 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text argues, by analogy with the rules governing true co-owners, that when a slave owned by another serves two possessors in good faith, any acquisition made from the property of one possessor must be acquired in its entirety for that possessor alone.

[SCAEUOLA libro tertio decimo quaestionum. ] §45.3.19.prSi alienus seruus duobus bonae fidei seruiens ex unius eorum re adquirat, ratio facit, ut ei ex cuius re adquisiit id totum ei adquirat, siue ei soli siue quasi duobus seruiat: nam et in ueris dominis quotiens utrique adquiritur, totiens partes adquiri: ceterum si alii non adquiratur, alium solidum habiturum.
[SCAEUOLA, from the thirteenth book of Questions.] If a slave belonging to another, serving two persons in good faith, should acquire from the property of one of them, reason dictates that he acquires the whole of it for him from whose property he acquired, whether he serves him alone or as if serving two. For also in the case of true owners, as often as acquisition is made for both, so often are shares acquired; but if it is not acquired for one, the other will have the whole.
igitur eadem ratio erit et in proposito, ut hic seruus alienus, qui mihi et tibi bona fide seruit, mihi solidum ex re mea adquirat, quia tibi non potest adquiri, quia non sit ex re tua.
Therefore, the same rule will apply also in the proposed case, so that this slave belonging to another, who serves you and me in good faith, acquires the whole for me from my property, because it cannot be acquired for you, since it is not from your property.

Notes

  1. §45.3.19.prratio facit, ut — The verb facere followed by ut and the subjunctive (adquirat) with an impersonal subject ratio ('reason' or 'legal principle') means 'brings it about that...' or 'dictates that...'.
  2. §45.3.19.prquotiens utrique adquiritur, totiens partes adquiri — A correlative construction of quotiens ... totiens ... ('as often as... so often...'). The main clause of this statement uses the infinitive adquiri because it is expressed as a general legal principle or consequence continuing from ratio facit (in indirect speech style).
  3. §45.3.19.prut hic seruus — Introduces a noun clause (explanatory ut-clause) that specifies and explains the content of the preceding phrase eadem ratio erit et in proposito ('the same rule will apply also in the proposed case').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §45.3.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:45.3.19.pr

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