Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §6.1.8.pr

Claiming an Undivided Share Based on Type of Possession

Passage 1079 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Citing Pomponius, the text discusses how a co-owner should claim their share of a land possessed by others, distinguishing between undivided possession and possession of specific regions, and notes that this distinction does not apply to movables or inheritances.

[IDEM libro duodecimo ad edictum. ] §6.1.8.prPomponius libro trigensimo sexto probat, si ex aequis partibus fundum mihi tecum communem tu et Lucius Titius possideatis, non ab utrisque quadrantes petere me debere, sed a Titio, qui non sit dominus, totum semissern.
[THE SAME, in the twelfth book on the Edict.] Pomponius approves in his thirty-sixth book that, if you and Lucius Titius possess a land held in common between me and you in equal shares, I ought not to claim a quarter from each of you, but rather the whole half from Titius, who is not an owner.
aliter atque si certis regionibus possideatis eum fundum: nam tunc sine dubio et a te et a Titio partes fundi petere me debere: quotiens enim certa loca possidebuntur, necessario in his aliquam partem meam esse: et ideo te quoque a Titio quadrantem petere debere.
It is otherwise if you possess that land in specific regions; for then, without doubt, I must claim parts of the land both from you and from Titius. For whenever specific places are possessed, it is necessary that some part of mine is in them; and therefore you also ought to claim a quarter from Titius.
quae distinctio neque in re mobili neque in hereditatis petitione locum habet: nunquam enim pro diuiso possideri potest.
This distinction has no place either in a movable thing or in a petition for an inheritance; for these can never be possessed as divided.

Notes

  1. §6.1.8.prmihi tecum communem — mihi is a dative of reference or relation modifying the adjective communem. tecum (cum with the ablative te) similarly expresses co-ownership, so that the phrase means "held in common by me with you."
  2. §6.1.8.prsemissern — A manuscript spelling variant or corruption of semissem, the accusative of semis (half, 1/2). Together with totum, it serves as the object of the accusative-and-infinitive clause (me... debere petere... totum semissem), meaning "the whole half."
  3. §6.1.8.prpro diuiso — A legal idiom meaning "as divided" or "in a divided state," contrasted with pro indiuiso ("as undivided"). It explains that since movable things and inheritances cannot, by their nature, be possessed in physically divided portions, the distinction based on physical regions (as in the case of land) does not apply to them.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §6.1.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:6.1.8.pr

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