[PAULUS libro sexagensimo quarto ad edictum. ] §50.17.151.prNemo damnum facit, nisi qui id fecit, quod facere ius non habet.
[PAULUS, in the sixty-fourth book on the edict.] No one causes damage, except one who has done what he has no right to do.
Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.151.pr
Legal Damage Arising Only from Unauthorized Acts
Summary
This section states the principle that legal damage is caused only by performing an action that one has no right to do.
Notes
- §50.17.151.prnisi qui — Immediately after the conjunction nisi (unless, except), the demonstrative pronoun (is or eum) serving as the antecedent to the relative pronoun qui is omitted, forming the exception 'except one who'.
- §50.17.151.prdamnum facit — In legal texts, damnum refers to unlawfully caused 'legal damage' rather than mere factual disadvantage. Thus, an action performed within the limits of one's own right (ius) does not constitute damnum in the legal sense, even if it causes disadvantage to another.
Cite this passage
Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.151.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.151.pr
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