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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.17.pr

Payment in One's Own Name and Good-Faith Consumption

Passage 7672 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that if a third party pays a creditor in their own name rather than the mandator's, neither is released; however, if the creditor consumes the coins in good faith, the payer is released to prevent unjust enrichment.

[IDEM libro nono decimo ad Sabinum. ] §46.3.17.prCassius ait, si cui pecuniam dedi, ut eam creditori meo solueret, si suo nomine dederit, neutrum liberari, me, quia non meo nomine data sit, illum, quia alienam dederit: ceterum mandati eum teneri.
[IDEM libro nono decimo ad Sabinum.] Cassius says that if I gave money to someone so that he might pay it to my creditor, if he gave it in his own name, neither is released: myself, because it was not given in my name, and him, because he gave what belonged to another; but he is liable under the mandate.
sed si creditor eos nummos sine dolo malo consumpsisset, is, qui suo nomine eos soluisset, liberatur, ne, si aliter obseruaretur, creditor in lucro uersaretur.
But if the creditor consumed those coins without fraud, he who paid them in his own name is released, lest, if it were otherwise observed, the creditor should find himself in a position of gain.

Notes

  1. §46.3.17.prneutrum liberari — An accusative with infinitive construction governed by the verb ait. neutrum (neither of the two) refers to both the mandator (me) and the mandatary (illum).
  2. §46.3.17.prme ... illum — The accusatives me and illum are set in apposition to explain the respective reasons for neutrum liberari, with [non liberari] being understood in both cases.
  3. §46.3.17.prmandati ... teneri — The genitive mandati refers to the action of mandate (actio mandati) as the ground of liability. It means that since the mandatary failed to act in accordance with the mandate, he is liable under the contract of mandate.
  4. §46.3.17.prsi aliter obseruaretur — Imperfect subjunctive used impersonally in a conditional clause expressing a contrary-to-fact situation. It means 'if a different rule were to be observed in law.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.17.pr

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