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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.1.15.pr-46.1.15.1

Surety's Defense and Agreement Not to Sue a Co-Surety

Passage 7563 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It discusses that a surety can exercise an exception even against the will of the principal debtor in a causeless stipulation, and the effect of an agreement not to sue made between the creditor and one of the co-sureties on the other, as well as the exception of doli mali against suing for the remaining amount.

[IDEM libro quinquagensimo primo digestorum. ] §46.1.15.prSi stipulatus esses a me sine causa et fideiussorem dedissem et nollem eum exceptione uti, sed potius soluere, ut mecum mandati iudicio ageret, fideiussori etiam inuito me exceptio dari debet: interest enim eius pecuniam retinere potius quam solutam stipulatori a reo repetere.
[THE SAME in the fifty-first book of the digests.] If you had stipulated with me without cause, and I had given a surety, and I were unwilling for him to use an exception, but rather to pay, so that he might bring an action of mandate against me, the exception ought to be granted to the surety even against my will; for it is in his interest to retain the money rather than to recover it, when paid to the stipulator, from the principal debtor.
§46.1.15.1Si ex duobus, qui apud te fideiusserant in uiginti, alter, ne ab eo peteres, quinque tibi dederit uel promiserit, nec alter liberabitur et, si ab altero quindecim petere institueris, nulla exceptione summoueris: reliqua autem quinque si a priore fideiussore petere institueris, doli mali exceptione submouueris.
If of two persons, who had become sureties to you for twenty, one, so that you should not sue him, has given or promised you five, the other will not be released either, and if you proceed to sue the other for fifteen, you will not be barred by any exception; but if you proceed to sue the former surety for the remaining five, you will be barred by the exception of doli mali.

Notes

  1. §46.1.15.prinuito me — An ablative absolute construction consisting of a pronoun and an adjective (with the participle of esse understood), meaning 'against my will' or 'although I am unwilling'.
  2. §46.1.15.printerest... eius — The impersonal verb interest takes the genitive of the person concerned (here, the genitive of the third-person pronoun eius). The subsequent infinitive phrase functions as the subject.
  3. §46.1.15.prsolutam — A perfect participle modifying pecuniam (the object of retinere) or an implied noun, functioning as the object of repetere as 'the money, having been paid'.
  4. §46.1.15.1summoueris — Future perfect indicative passive (second person singular) in the apodosis of the conditional sentence (si... institueris), indicating a certain future result ('you will be barred').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.1.15.pr-46.1.15.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.1.15.pr-46.1.15.1

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