Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §6.2.14.pr

Agent's Delivery after Revocation and Buyer's Protection

Passage 1165 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the protection of a buyer and the agent's right to recovery from the principal when an agent delivers a thing despite the principal's subsequent prohibition of delivery.

[ULPIANUS libro sexto decimo ad edictum. ] §6.2.14.prPapinianus libro sexto quaestionum scribit: si quis prohibuit uel denuntiauit ex casua uenditionis tradi rem, quae ipsius uoluntate a procuratore fuerat distracta, et is nihilo minus tradiderit, emptorem tuebitur praetor, siue possideat siue petat rem.

[ULPIAN on the Edict, book 16] Papinian writes in the sixth book of his Questions: if anyone has prohibited or given notice against the delivery, on the ground of sale, of a thing which had been sold by his agent with his own consent, and the agent has nevertheless delivered it, the praetor will protect the buyer, whether he is in possession or is seeking the thing.

sed quod iudicio empti procurator emptori praestiterit, contrario iudicio mandati consequetur: potest enim fieri, ut emptori res auferatur ab eo, qui uenire mandauit, quia per ignorantiam non est usus exceptione, quam debuit opponere, ueluti: 'si non auctor meus ex uoluntate tua uendidit. '

But what the agent has paid to the buyer under the action on purchase, he will recover by the counter-action on mandate; for it can happen that the thing is taken away from the buyer by the person who mandated its sale, because through ignorance the buyer did not use the exception which he ought to have opposed, such as: "unless my author sold it with your consent."

Notes

6.2.14.prcontrario iudicio mandati — The counter-action on mandate (contrarium iudicium mandati). While the direct action is brought by the mandator against the mandatary, this counter-action is available to the mandatary (here, the agent) to claim reimbursement for expenses or indemnity for losses from the mandator.
6.2.14.pruenire — The active present infinitive of the irregular verb uēneō (to be sold, to go on sale), which functions as the passive of uendō (to sell). Therefore, qui uenire mandauit means "the one who mandated that [the thing] be sold," referring to the principal (owner).
6.2.14.prsi non auctor meus ex uoluntate tua uendidit — The formulation of an exception (exceptio). In Roman formulary procedure, exceptions were typically framed as negative conditions (si non / nisi). Here, "if my author did not sell it with your consent" implies that if the sale was indeed made with the principal's consent, the buyer should be acquitted, thus blocking the principal's recovery claim.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §6.2.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:6.2.14.pr

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