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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.2.56.pr

Recovery of Pledged Property by a Creditor

Passage 7918 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that a creditor taking back a thing pledged to him does not commit theft, but is instead regarded as exercising his own right of pledge.

[ULPIANUS libro tertio disputationum. ] §47.2.56.prCum creditor rem sibi pigneratam aufert, non uidetur contrectare, sed pignori suo incumbere.
[ULPIANUS in the third book of Disputations.] When a creditor takes away a thing pledged to himself, he is not deemed to handle it unlawfully, but rather to rely upon his own pledge.

Notes

  1. §47.2.56.pruidetur — Passive of the verb uideo, used here in a personal construction, where the subject of the sentence, creditor, is the implied subject of the infinitives contrectare and incumbere ("the creditor is not deemed to...").
  2. §47.2.56.prcontrectare — Refers to performing "unlawful handling or appropriation" (contrectatio), which is the essential element for the establishment of theft (furtum) in Roman law. It implies not just touching, but bringing the thing under one's control with unlawful intent.
  3. §47.2.56.prpignori suo incumbere — The intransitive verb incumbere (to lean upon, rely on) governs the dative case. Here, it expresses that the creditor is acting by relying on his own legal status of "pledge (pignus)."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.2.56.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.2.56.pr

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