Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.39.pr

Risk of Loss in Deposited Money for Payment

Passage 7694 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment discusses the allocation of risk when money for payment is deposited with a money-changer, considering the creditor's delay or improper tender, and applies this rule to cases where both buyer and seller deposit their performances due to mutual distrust.

[IDEM libro octauo quaestionum. ] §46.3.39.prSi, soluturus pecuniam tibi, iussu tuo signatam eam apud nummularium, quoad probaretur, deposuerim, tui periculi eam fore Mela libro decimo scribit.
[THE SAME in the eighth book of Questions.] Mela writes in his tenth book that if, being about to pay money to you, I have by your order deposited it, sealed, with a money-changer until it should be tested, the money will be at your risk.
quod uerum est, cum eo tamen, ut illud maxime spectetur, an per te steterit, quo minus in continenti probaretur: nam tunc perinde habendum erit, ac si parato me soluere tu ex aliqua causa accipere nolles.
This is true, with the proviso, however, that it must be especially considered whether it was due to you that it was not tested immediately; for then it must be treated just as if, when I was ready to pay, you had for some reason been unwilling to receive it.
in qua specie non utique semper tuum periculum erit: quid enim, si inopportuno tempore uel loco optulerim? his consequens esse puto, ut etiam, si et emptor nummos et uenditor mercem, quod inuicem parum fidei haberent, deposuerint, et nummi emptoris periculo sint (utique si ipse eum, apud quem deponerentur, elegerit) et nihilo minus merx quoque, quia emptio perfecta sit.
In which case, the risk will not by any means always be yours; for what if I offered it at an unsuitable time or place? I think it follows from this that even if both the buyer has deposited the money and the seller the goods, because they had little mutual trust, the money is at the buyer's risk (especially if he himself chose the person with whom they were to be deposited), and nevertheless the goods are also at his risk, because the sale is completed.

Notes

  1. §46.3.39.prcum eo tamen, ut — An idiomatic expression introducing a restrictive clause with 'ut', meaning 'with this proviso, however, that...' or 'on the condition that...'.
  2. §46.3.39.pran per te steterit, quo minus — The idiomatic construction `stare per aliquem quominus...` means 'to be due to someone that ... not'. Here, it is used in an indirect question introduced by `an` (whether), taking the subjunctive perfect `steterit`.
  3. §46.3.39.pret nihilo minus merx quoque — Ellipsis of the predicate. After `et nihilo minus merx quoque`, the phrase `emptoris periculo sit` (be at the buyer's risk) is omitted from the context of the preceding clause.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.39.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.39.pr

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