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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.1.69.pr

Guarantor as Tutor of Creditor's Son and Recourse

Passage 7617 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses a case where a guarantor is appointed tutor to the creditor's son, focusing on his duty to collect the debt from himself, his liability under the action on guardianship, and his remaining right of recourse via the action of mandate.

[TRYPHONINUS libro nono disputationum. ] §46.1.69.prTutor datus eius filio, cui ex fideiussoria causa obligatus erat, a semet ipso exigere debet, et quamuis tempore liberatus erit, tamen tutelae iudicio eo nomine tenebitur, item heres eius, quia cum eo ob tutelam, non ex fideiussione agitur.
[TRYPHONINUS in the ninth book of Disputations.] A person appointed tutor to the son of him to whom he was obligated as a guarantor ought to exact payment from himself; and although he will have been released by the lapse of time, he will nevertheless be held liable on that account under the action on guardianship, and likewise his heir, because the action brought against him is based on guardianship, not on the guaranty.
et quamuis non quasi fideiussor, sed quasi tutor soluerit, etiamsi tempore liberatus est, mandati actionem eum habere aduersus reum promittendi dixi.
And I have said that although he paid not as guarantor but as tutor, and even if he has been released by time, he has an action of mandate against the principal debtor.
haeret enim in utraque causa adhuc illius debiti persecutio, nam eius solutione liberauit reum promittendi obligatione, in quam pro eo fideiusserat, et non titulus actionis, sed debiti causa respicienda est.
For under both heads the recovery of that debt still persists, since by his payment he released the principal debtor from the obligation in which he had become guarantor for him, and we must look not to the title of the action but to the cause of the debt.
licet enim is tutor, qui fideiussor apud pupillum pro reo est obligatus, soluit se auctore pupillo, quia reo promittendi liberato et ipse tutor idemque fideiussor liberabitur, quod sua auctoritate efficere non potest, tamen et si non pro se soluendi animo, sed pro Titio fecit, ut maxime eum liberet, habebit cum eo mandati actionem.
For although a tutor who is bound to his ward as guarantor on behalf of a debtor pays with his own authorization on behalf of the ward—which he cannot effect by his own authorization, because if the principal debtor is released, the tutor himself, who is also the guarantor, will be released—nevertheless, even if he did so not with the intention of paying for himself but on behalf of Titius, in order especially to release him, he will have an action of mandate against him.

Notes

  1. §46.1.69.prTutor datus eius filio, cui ex fideiussoria causa obligatus erat — Syntactically, the genitive pronoun eius refers to the deceased father (creditor) of the ward, and serves as the antecedent of the relative pronoun in the dative, cui. The subject of the passive obligatus erat is the newly appointed tutor (tutor datus), who was the guarantor.
  2. §46.1.69.prse auctore pupillo — An ablative absolute construction, literally meaning 'with himself [the tutor] as authorizer [acting] for the ward'. Although a ward needs the tutor's authorization (auctoritas) for valid legal acts, because the tutor himself is the other party (debtor), this constitutes a conflict of interest, as explained by the subsequent clause quod sua auctoritate efficere non potest.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.1.69.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.1.69.pr

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