Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §6.1.25.pr

Liability of a Non-Possessor Defending a Real Action

Passage 1096 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that a non-possessor who defends a lawsuit without cause should not be acquitted if the plaintiff is ignorant of the fact, but specifies that this applies only after the joinder of issue (litis contestatio), distinguishing it from actions taken before the trial is accepted.

[ULPIANUS libro septuagensimo ad edictum. ] §6.1.25.prIs qui se optulit rei defensioni sine causa, cum non possideret nec dolo fecisset, quo minus possideret: si actor ignoret, non est absoluendus, ut Marcellus ait: quae sententia uera est.
[ULPIAN, in the seventieth book on the Edict.] A person who has presented himself to defend a thing without cause, when he was not in possession and had not acted with fraud to avoid possession, if the plaintiff is ignorant of this, is not to be absolved, as Marcellus says; and this opinion is correct.
sed hoc post litem contestatam: ceterum ante iudicium acceptum non decipit actorem qui se negat possidere, cum uere non possideret: nec uidetur se liti optulisse qui discessit.
But this applies after the joinder of issue (litis contestatio); on the other hand, before the trial is accepted (iudicium acceptum), one who denies that he is in possession when he really is not does not deceive the plaintiff, nor is one who has withdrawn deemed to have presented himself for the lawsuit.

Notes

  1. §6.1.25.prIs qui se optulit... non est absoluendus — The subject of the main clause `Is` (which governs the relative clause `qui...` and the concessive `cum` clause) is widely separated from its predicate verb phrase `non est absoluendus` by the conditional clause `si actor ignoret` and the parenthetical clause `ut Marcellus ait`.
  2. §6.1.25.prquo minus possideret — This is a construction of `quo minus` with the subjunctive (imperfect `possideret`) dependent on `fecisset` (dolo fecisset), expressing an intention or result: "acting with fraud so as not to possess (or to avoid possession)".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §6.1.25.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:6.1.25.pr

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