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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.121.pr

Why Interest on Money Is Not Considered Fruit

Passage 8935 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains why interest on money is not considered "fruit," stating that it does not arise from the property itself but from another cause, namely a new obligation.

[IDEM libro sexto ad Quintum Mucium. ] §50.16.121.prUsura pecuniae, quam percipimus, in fructu non est, quia non ex ipso corpore, sed ex alia causa est, id est noua obligatione.
[THE SAME, in the sixth book on Quintus Mucius.] The interest on money which we receive is not included in "fruit", because it does not arise from the property itself, but from another cause, that is, from a new obligation.

Notes

  1. §50.16.121.prquam — The relative pronoun quam (feminine singular accusative) could grammatically refer either to the immediately preceding pecuniae (feminine singular) or to the subject usura (feminine singular). However, since the legal context concerns the "collection" (perceptio) of interest rather than the money itself, it is appropriate to take usura (or the phrase usura pecuniae as a whole) as the antecedent.
  2. §50.16.121.prex ipso corpore — Meaning "from the substance (or body) itself." This contrasts with natural fruits, which physically separate and arise from the parent property (corpus) such as fruit trees or livestock, whereas interest does not directly arise from the physical substance of the money, which is a consumable.
  3. §50.16.121.prnoua obligatione — An ablative phrase functioning either as an appositional explanation without a preposition to ex alia causa, or as an ablative of cause/means. It is translated as "that is, by (or from) a new obligation."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.121.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.121.pr

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