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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.115.pr

Definitions and Distinctions of Land, Field, Possession, and Estate

Passage 8929 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage defines and distinguishes four related property terms in Roman law: tract of land, field, possession, and estate.

[IDEM libro quarto epistularum. ] §50.16.115.prQuaestio est, fundus a possessione uel agro uel praedio quid distet.
[THE SAME, in the fourth book of his Epistles.] The question is, how a 'tract of land' differs from a 'possession', or a 'field', or an 'estate'.
'fundus' est omne, quidquid solo tenetur.
A 'tract of land' is everything that is held by the soil.
'ager' est, si species fundi ad usum hominis comparatur.
A 'field' is when a species of tract of land is applied to human use.
'possessio' ab agro iuris proprietate distat: quidquid enim adprehendimus, cuius proprietas ad nos non pertinet aut nec potest pertinere, hoc possessionem appellamus: possessio ergo usus, ager proprietas loci est.
A 'possession' differs from a 'field' in the legal nature of ownership: for whatever we lay hold of, the ownership of which does not belong to us or cannot even belong to us, this we call a 'possession'. Therefore, possession is use, while a field is the ownership of the place.
'praedium' utriusque supra scriptae generale nomen est: nam et ager et possessio huius appellationis species sunt.
An 'estate' is the general name for both of those written above: for both a 'field' and a 'possession' are species of this designation.

Notes

  1. 50.16.115.prquid — The neuter singular accusative of the interrogative pronoun in the indirect question (quid distet), used adverbially to mean 'in what respect' or 'how', indicating how the subject fundus differs from the other concepts.
  2. 50.16.115.prest, si — A definition construction in which the conditional clause (si-clause) serves to complete the predicate of the main clause, establishing the formula: 'A is when/if B occurs.'
  3. 50.16.115.priuris proprietate — The genitive iuris modifies the ablative proprietate (ownership, property). Here, proprietas refers to 'ownership' in the legal sense, as contrasted with 'use' (usus), meaning 'in the legal ownership'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.115.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.115.pr

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