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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.12.3.pr-50.12.3.1

Binding Force of Promises and Property Delivered to Cities

Passage 8785 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author defines the difference between a pact and a unilateral promise, discussing the obligation to fulfill promises made for an honor or on which work has begun, and the rules regarding property delivered to a municipality.

[IDEM libro quarto disputationum. ] §50.12.3.prPactum est duorum consensus atque conuentio, pollicitatio uero offerentis solius promissum.
[THE SAME, in the fourth book of Disputations.] A pact is the consent and agreement of two persons, whereas a unilateral promise is the promise of the offeror alone.
et ideo illud est constitutum, ut, si ob honorem pollicitatio fuerit facta, quasi debitum exigatur.
And therefore it has been established that, if a unilateral promise was made for the sake of an honor, it may be demanded as if it were a debt.
sed et coeptum opus, licet non ob honorem promissum, perficere promissor eo cogetur, et est constitutum.
But also, with regard to a work already begun, even if it was not promised for the sake of an honor, the promisor shall be compelled by this to complete it, and so it has been established.
§50.12.3.1Si quis quam ex pollicitatione tradiderat rem municipibus uindicare uelit, repellendus est a petitione: aequissimum est enim huiusmodi uoluntates in ciuitates collatas paenitentia non reuocari.
If anyone should wish to claim any thing which he had delivered to the citizens of a municipality in consequence of a unilateral promise, he must be repelled from his petition; for it is most equitable that intentions of this kind, directed towards states, should not be revoked by a change of mind.
sed et si desierint municipes possidere, dicendum erit actionem eis concedendam.
But even if the citizens should cease to possess it, it must be said that an action should be granted to them.

Notes

  1. 50.12.3.prcoeptum opus — A neuter noun phrase functioning as the logical object (in the accusative or as a nominative absolute) of the infinitive perficere. Although promissor is the subject of the passive main verb cogetur, coeptum opus is placed at the beginning of the clause for emphasis.
  2. 50.12.3.1Si quis quam ... rem — The indefinite pronominal adjective quam is separated from its noun rem by the intervening relative clause ex pollicitatione tradiderat (hyperbaton). It must be read together as 'any thing which he had delivered in consequence of a unilateral promise'.
  3. 50.12.3.1actionem eis concedendam — An accusative with infinitive (AcI) clause dependent on the impersonal expression dicendum erit ('it must be said'). The copula esse is omitted from the gerundive phrase concedendam [esse], which expresses passive necessity or obligation.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.12.3.pr-50.12.3.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.12.3.pr-50.12.3.1

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