Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.2.28.pr

Requirement of a Permanent Cause for Servitudes and Drainage Holes

Passage 1396 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus states that an opening for washing floors is neither a stream nor subject to prescription, explaining the principle that all praedial servitudes must have a permanent cause.

[PAULUS libro quinto decimo ad Sabinum. ] §8.2.28.prForamen in imo pariete conclauis uel triclinii, quod esset proluendi pauimenti causa, id neque flumen esse neque tempore adquiri placuit.
[PAULUS, in the fifteenth book on Sabinus.] It has been held that an opening at the bottom of the wall of a room or a dining room, which is for the purpose of washing the floor, is neither a stream nor can it be acquired by lapse of time.
hoc ita uerum est, si in eum locum nihil ex caelo aquae ueniat (neque enim perpetuam causam habet quod manu fit): at quod ex caelo cadit, etsi non assidue fit, ex naturali tamen causa fit et ideo perpetuo fieri existimatur.
This is true only if no water from the sky comes into that place (for what is done by hand does not have a permanent cause); but what falls from the sky, even if it does not happen continuously, nevertheless happens from a natural cause and is therefore deemed to happen permanently.
omnes autem seruitutes praediorum perpetuas causas habere debent, et ideo neque ex lacu neque ex stagno concedi aquae ductus potest.
Moreover, all praedial servitudes must have permanent causes, and therefore a right of conducting water can be granted neither from a lake nor from a pond.
stillicidii quoque immittendi naturalis et perpetua causa esse debet.
The cause for discharging dripping water must also be natural and permanent.

Notes

  1. §8.2.28.prForamen ... id — The noun 'Foramen' at the beginning of the sentence is introduced in the nominative (or as a topic) and, after the relative clause, is picked up by the demonstrative pronoun 'id' acting as the subject of the infinitive clause (Aci) governed by the impersonal 'placuit' ('it has been held/approved').
  2. §8.2.28.prperpetuas causas — Refers to the 'permanent causes' (perpetuae causae), a legal requirement for the establishment of praedial servitudes (especially water rights). It contrasts temporary states created by human hands (manu factum) with continuous states arising from natural causes (naturalis causa) like rainwater.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.2.28.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.2.28.pr

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