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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.24.pr

Appropriation of Payment by a Surety for Two Debtors

Passage 7679 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment discusses the rules of appropriation when a surety who guaranteed debts for two debtors makes a partial payment, determining which debt is relieved and to what extent.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo septimo ad Sabinum. ] §46.3.24.prUbi fideiussor pro duobus dena fideiussit, obligatus est in uiginti, et siue uiginti siue dena soluerit, utrumque reum liberabit.
[ULPIAN in the forty-seventh book on Sabinus.] When a surety has guaranteed ten for each of two debtors, he is bound for twenty, and whether he pays twenty or ten, he will release both principal debtors.
sed si quinque soluerit, uideamus, quem ex reis releuet in quinque? erit ille releuatus, de quo actum est aut, si non appareat, antiquius debitum erit inspiciendum.
But if he pays five, let us see which of the debtors he relieves to the extent of five? That person will be relieved about whom it was agreed, or, if it does not appear, the older debt must be looked at.
idem et si quindecim sint soluta: si quidem appareat, quid actum sit, inde decem et aliunde quinque erunt releuata, si uero non apparet, ex antiquiore contractu decem, ex alio quinque erunt releuata.
The same applies also if fifteen are paid: if indeed it appears what was agreed, ten will be relieved from that source and five from the other, but if it does not appear, ten will be relieved from the older contract and five from the other.

Notes

  1. §46.3.24.prdena — dena is a distributive numeral ("ten each"), meaning that the surety guaranteed ten for each of the two debtors (pro duobus), which explains why his total liability is twenty (in uiginti).
  2. §46.3.24.prde quo actum est — The antecedent of the relative clause de quo actum est is the demonstrative pronoun ille. actum est is an impersonal passive meaning "it was agreed" or "it was intended", referring here to the debtor who was the subject of the agreement or intention regarding the payment.
  3. §46.3.24.pruideamus, quem... releuet — This is an indirect question clause introduced by uideamus (hortatory subjunctive, "let us see"), which is why the verb releuet is in the present subjunctive (third-person singular) following the interrogative pronoun quem.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.24.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.24.pr

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