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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.159.pr

Multiple Causes of Obligation and Single Cause of Ownership

Passage 9219 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus states the legal principle that while the same obligation (debt) can arise from multiple legal causes, the same ownership cannot be established from multiple legal causes simultaneously.

[PAULUS libro septuagensimo ad edictum. ] §50.17.159.prNon ut ex pluribus causis deberi nobis idem potest, ita ex pluribus causis idem possit nostrum esse.
[PAULUS, in the seventieth book on the edict.] Just as the same thing can be owed to us from multiple causes, it is not possible for the same thing to become ours from multiple causes.

Notes

  1. §50.17.159.prNon ut ... ita — The negative particle 'non' at the beginning negates the entire correlative construction 'ut ... ita ...', meaning 'just as ... is the case, it is not the case that ...'. This contrasts the possibility of multiple coexisting causes for an obligation (deberi) with the impossibility of multiple causes for ownership (nostrum esse).
  2. §50.17.159.prnostrum esse — The combination of the possessive adjective 'nostrum' (neuter nominative) and the copula 'esse' means 'to be ours' (to belong to us), denoting ownership. This stands in contrast to 'deberi' (to be owed, representing an obligation), and refers to the acquisition of property rights (ownership). It presupposes the legal maxim that one cannot acquire what already belongs to oneself.
  3. §50.17.159.prpotest ... possit — In the first clause, the indicative present 'potest' is used with 'ut' to state an objective fact (that an obligation can indeed arise from multiple causes). In the second clause, the subjunctive present 'possit' is used to express a general, theoretical impossibility (that ownership cannot arise from multiple causes).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.159.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.159.pr

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