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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.51.pr

Rule That Duty to Restore Negates Acquisition

Passage 9111 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section states the legal maxim that no one is deemed to have acquired what they are under an obligation to restore to another.

[GAIUS libro quinto decimo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §50.17.51.prNon uidetur quisquam id capere, quod ei necesse est alii restituere.
[GAIUS, in his fifteenth book on the Provincial Edict.] No one is deemed to acquire that which he is obliged to restore to another.

Notes

  1. §50.17.51.prNon uidetur quisquam ... capere — This is a nominative with infinitive (nominativus cum infinitivo) construction, where the passive verb uidetur ('is seen', 'is deemed') takes the subject quisquam and the infinitive capere. The negative non combined with quisquam expresses a universal negation ('no one is deemed to acquire').
  2. §50.17.51.prei necesse est alii restituere — The impersonal expression necesse est ('it is necessary') is followed by the dative of agent ei ('for him') and the infinitive restituere ('to restore'), which in turn takes alii ('to another') as its dative object. Literally, 'which it is necessary for him to restore to another', indicating a legal obligation to return the object.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.51.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.51.pr

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