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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.79.pr

Payment in the Creditor's Sight and Long-Hand Delivery

Passage 7734 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author discusses how placing money or goods in the creditor's sight by their order constitutes a transfer of possession (traditio manu longa), thereby immediately releasing the debtor and transferring ownership to the creditor.

[IDEM libro decimo epistularum. ] §46.3.79.prPecuniam, quam mihi debes, aut aliam rem si in conspectu meo ponere te iubeam, efficitur, ut et tu statim libereris et mea esse incipiat: nam tum, quod a nullo corporaliter eius rei possessio detinetur, adquisita mihi et quodammodo manu longa tradita existimanda est.
[THE SAME, in the tenth book of Letters.] If I should order you to place in my sight the money which you owe me, or any other thing, the result is that you are immediately released and it begins to be mine; for then, since the possession of that thing is physically held by no one, it must be considered as acquired by me and, in a manner, delivered by the long hand.

Notes

  1. §46.3.79.prPecuniam, quam mihi debes, aut aliam rem si ... iubeam — The phrases 'pecuniam' and 'aliam rem' are the objects of the infinitive 'ponere' within the conditional clause 'si ... iubeam', but they are fronted to the very beginning of the sentence for emphasis.
  2. §46.3.79.pradquisita mihi — The dative 'mihi' can be interpreted either as a dative of agent with the gerundive 'existimanda est', or as a dative of reference/advantage with the perfect participles 'adquisita' and 'tradita'. It indicates the person to whom the acquisition and delivery are realized.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.79.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.79.pr

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