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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.14.3.pr

Cognizance and Reasonable Limits of Brokerage Fees

Passage 8806 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses that provincial governors take cognizance of claims for broker's fees, emphasizing that there must be a reasonable limit to such fees, and notes the existence of legitimate brokers who facilitate lawful transactions.

[IDEM libro octauo de omnibus tribunalibus. ] §50.14.3.prDe proxenetico, quod et sordidum, solent praesides cognoscere: sic tamen, ut et in his modus esse debeat et quantitatis et negotii, in quo operula ista defuncti sunt et ministerium qualequale accommodauerunt.
[THE SAME, in the eighth book on All Tribunals.]\n\nConcerning broker's fees, which is indeed a sordid matter, governors are accustomed to take cognizance; in such a way, however, that even in these there ought to be a limit both of the amount and of the business, in which they have performed that trifling labor of theirs and rendered service of whatever quality.
facilius quod Graeci ἑρμηνευτικὸν appellant, peti apud eos poterit, si quis forte condicionis uel amicitiae uel adsessurae uel cuius alterius huiuscemodi proxeneta fuit: sunt enim huiusmodi hominum (ut in tam magna ciuitate) officinae.
More easily can that which the Greeks call ἑρμηνευτικόν be claimed before them, if anyone has happened to be a broker for a marriage agreement, or friendship, or an assessorship, or any other matter of this kind; for there are offices of this class of men (as is natural in so great a city).
est enim proxenetarum modus, qui emptionibus uenditionibus, commerciis, contractibus licitis utiles non adeo improbabili more se exhibent.
For there is a class of brokers who show themselves useful in purchases, sales, commerce, and lawful contracts, in a manner that is not so objectionable.

Notes

  1. §50.14.3.prdefuncti sunt — This is the perfect tense of the deponent verb defungor (to perform, discharge), which governs the ablative case, taking the neuter plural 'operula ista' (that trifling labor of theirs) as its object.
  2. §50.14.3.prcondicionis — Here 'condicio' does not merely mean 'condition' in a general sense, but serves as a legal technical term specifically referring to 'condicio matrimonii' (a marriage agreement or match).
  3. §50.14.3.prmodus — In this short passage, 'modus' is used in two different senses: the first 'modus' means 'limit, measure', whereas the second 'modus' denotes 'class, category' of brokers.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.14.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.14.3.pr

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