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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §6.1.77.pr

Acquisition of Possession via Donation by Letter and Lease

Passage 1148 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian discusses how a donee acquires possession and an action in rem when a woman donates land to a non-husband by letter and leases it back, and notes that the donee's presence on the land at the time the letter was sent is sufficient for the transfer of possession even without a lease.

[ULPIANUS libro septimo decimo ad edictum. ] §6.1.77.prQuaedam mulier fundum non marito donauit per epistulam et eundem fundum ab eo conduxit: posse defendi in rem ei competere, quasi per ipsam adquisierit possessionem ueluti per colonam.
A certain woman donated a tract of land to a man who was not her husband by means of a letter, and leased the same land from him: it can be maintained that an action in rem is available to him, as if he had acquired possession through her herself, as through a tenant.
proponebatur, quod etiam in eo agro qui donabatur fuisset, cum epistula emitteretur: quae res sufficiebat ad traditam possessionem, licet conductio non interuenisset.
It was proposed that he had also been on the land which was being donated, when the letter was sent; which circumstance was sufficient for the transfer of possession, even if the lease had not intervened.

Notes

  1. §6.1.77.prposse defendi in rem ei competere — The accusative with infinitive clause '[actionem] in rem ei competere' (that an action in rem is available to him) serves as the subject/complement of the impersonally used passive infinitive 'posse defendi'. 'ei' refers to the donee, and 'in rem' is an ellipsis for 'actio in rem'.
  2. §6.1.77.prquasi per ipsam adquisierit possessionem ueluti per colonam — The subject of the perfect subjunctive 'adquisierit' is the donee (corresponding to 'ei'). It explains the mechanism (analogous to constitutum possessorium) where the donor, by leasing back the land, becomes a tenant ('colona'), allowing the donee to acquire possession through her physical holding.
  3. §6.1.77.prfuisset — The pluperfect subjunctive in the 'quod' clause. The omitted subject is the donee. This indicates that the donee's physical presence on the land at the time the letter was sent was a sufficient fact to establish the delivery of possession (traditio), even without the medium of the lease.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §6.1.77.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:6.1.77.pr

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