[ULPIANUS libro octagensimo ad edictum. ] §46.8.12.prquo enim tutiore loco sit, qui contrahit de rato solet stipulari.
[ULPIAN, On the Edict, Book LXXX] For in order to be in a safer position, he who contracts is accustomed to stipulate for ratification.
§46.8.12.1Rem haberi ratam hoc est comprobare adgnoscereque quod actum est a falso procuratore.
To hold a matter ratified means to approve and acknowledge what has been done by an unauthorized representative.
§46.8.12.2Iulianus ait interesse, quando dominus ratam habere deberet solutionem in procuratorem factam, an tunc demum, cum primum certior factus esset.
Julian says that there is a difference as to when the principal ought to ratify a payment made to a representative, whether only at the moment when he was first informed.
hoc autem en platei accipiendum et cum quodam spatio temporis nec minimo nec maximo et quod magis intellectu percipi, quam elocutione exprimi possit.
This, however, is to be understood in a broad sense, and with a certain interval of time, neither the shortest nor the longest, and which can be grasped more by understanding than expressed in words.
quid ergo, si, quod primo ratum non habuit, postea habebit ratum? nihilo magis proficere ad impediendam actionem suam et ob id, quod primo non habuit ratum, actionem saluam habere ait.
What then if he should later ratify what he did not at first ratify? He says that this is of no more avail to bar his action, and because he did not at first ratify it, he keeps his action unimpaired.
ideoque si, quod procuratori fuerat solutum, exegerit, agi perinde ex ea stipulatione poterit, ac si ratum habere se postea non dixisset.
And therefore, if he should demand what had been paid to the representative, action can be brought on that stipulation just as if he had not afterwards said that he ratified it.
sed ego puto exceptionem doli mali locum habituram.
But I think that the plea of fraud will have place.
§46.8.12.3Siue quis petat siue compensatione utatur, committitur statim ratam rem dominum habiturum stipulatio: nam qualiterqualiter quis eundem actum retractet, qui a procuratore actus est, committi stipulationem oportet.
Whether one sues or pleads set-off, the stipulation that the principal will hold the matter ratified is immediately forfeited; for in whatever way one retracts the same act which was performed by the representative, it is proper that the stipulation be forfeited.