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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.103.pr

Appropriation of Payment to an Enforceable Debt

Passage 7759 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section states Julian's opinion that when a debtor pays money on multiple accounts, the payment should be deemed to be credited to the specific debt for which he could have been legally compelled to make payment at the time of the transaction.

[MAECIANUS libro secundo fideicommissorum. ] §46.3.103.prCum ex pluribus causis debitor pecuniam soluit, Iulianus elegantissime putat ex ea causa eum soluisse uideri debere, ex qua tunc, cum soluebat, compelli poterit ad solutionem.
[MAECIANUS, in the second book on Trusts.] When a debtor pays money on several accounts, Julian very elegantly thinks that he ought to be deemed to have paid on that account for which, at the time he was paying, he could have been compelled to make payment.

Notes

  1. §46.3.103.prex ea causa eum soluisse uideri debere — An accusative with infinitive construction acting as the object of 'putat'. The subject of the infinitive 'debere' is the accusative 'eum' (the debtor). 'Debere' governs the passive infinitive 'uideri' (to be deemed), which in turn governs the perfect active infinitive 'soluisse' (to have paid), creating a nested infinitive structure: 'that he ought to be deemed to have paid'.
  2. §46.3.103.prcompelli poterit — The main verb of the relative clause 'ex qua...'. 'Poterit' is the third-person singular future indicative (the subject 'debitor' is omitted). Although it is future tense, it expresses a legal consequence or potential that existed at the moment of payment ('cum soluebat'), meaning 'he could have been (and would objectively be deemed liable to be) compelled'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.103.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.103.pr

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