Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.1.65.pr

Sureties Bound Only by Promising Their Own Performance

Passage 7613 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that, just like the principal debtor, sureties are only bound by promising their own performance, whereas promising another person's performance has no legal effect.

[IDEM libro sexto iuris epitomarum. ] §46.1.65.prSicut reus principalis non alias, quam si de sua persona promittat, obligatur, ita fideiussores non alias tenentur, quam si se quid daturos uel facturos promittant: nam reum principalem daturum uel facturum aliquid frustra promittunt, quia factum alienum inutiliter promittitur.
Just as the principal debtor is not bound otherwise than if he promises in respect of his own person, so sureties are not bound otherwise than if they promise that they themselves will give or do something: for they promise in vain that the principal debtor will give or do something, because the act of another is promised without effect.

Notes

  1. §46.1.65.prde sua persona — This phrase refers to the debtor promising his own act or performance rather than another's. It reflects the fundamental Roman law principle that a promise of another's act is legally ineffective, and thus one can only bind oneself by promising regarding one's own act.
  2. §46.1.65.prse quid daturos uel facturos — An accusative and infinitive (AcI) construction dependent on the verb `promittant`. The reflexive pronoun `se` is the accusative subject. `daturos` and `facturos` are future active participles in the accusative plural masculine (agreeing with `se`) with `esse` omitted, forming future infinitives. `quid` is an indefinite pronoun (equivalent to `aliquid` after `si`) acting as the direct object of the infinitives.
  3. §46.1.65.prinutiliter promittitur — In juristic Latin, `inutiliter` (the adverbial form of `inutilis`) carries the technical legal meaning of 'without legal effect' or 'voidly', rather than merely 'uselessly' in a general sense, indicating the legal nullity of promising another's act (*factum alienum*).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.1.65.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.1.65.pr

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