Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.2.32.pr-8.2.32.1

Usucapion of Freedom from a Negative Servitude

Passage 1400 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Julianus discusses how a owner bound by a non-building-higher servitude to two neighbors can acquire by usucapion freedom from the servitude against one of them if he builds higher under a precarium from the other. He also explains that this usucapion requires continuous possession of the building, and any interruption resets the statutory period.

[IULIANUS libro septimo digestorum. ] §8.2.32.prSi aedes meae seruiant aedibus Lucii Titii et aedibus Publii Maeuii, ne altius aedificare mihi liceat, et a Titio precario petierim, ut altius tollerem, atque ita per statutum tempus aedificatum habuero, libertatem aduersus Publium Maeuium usucapiam: non enim una seruitus Titio et Maeuio debebatur, sed duae.
[JULIANUS, in the seventh book of the Digests.] If my building is subject to a servitude in favor of the building of Lucius Titius and the building of Publius Maevius, preventing me from building higher, and I request from Titius, by way of precarium, permission to build higher, and thus maintain the building at that height for the established period of time, I shall acquire by usucapion the freedom (from the servitude) against Publius Maevius. For it was not a single servitude that was owed to Titius and Maevius, but two.
argumentum rei praebet, quod, si alter ex his seruitutem mihi remississet, ab eo solo liberarer, alteri nihilo minus seruitutem deberem.
A proof of this is that, if one of them had released the servitude to me, I would be freed from him alone, and would nonetheless owe the servitude to the other.
§8.2.32.1Libertas seruitutis usucapitur, si aedes possideantur: quare si is, qui altius aedificatum habebat, ante statutum tempus aedes possidere desiit, interpellata usucapio est.
Freedom from a servitude is acquired by usucapion if the building is possessed; therefore, if he who maintained the building at a higher height ceases to possess the building before the established period of time, the usucapion is interrupted.
is autem, qui postea easdem aedes possidere coeperit, integro statuto tempore libertatem usucapiet.
However, he who subsequently begins to possess the same building will acquire the freedom by usucapion only after the full established period of time.
natura enim seruitutium ea est, ut possideri non possint, sed intellegatur possessionem earum habere, qui aedes possidet.
For the nature of servitudes is such that they cannot be possessed, but he who possesses the building is understood to have possession of them.

Notes

  1. §8.2.32.praedificatum habuero — The combination of the verb habeo and the perfect participle (here aedificatum, either as a substantivized neuter accusative 'the built state' or agreeing with an implied noun like aedificium) expresses not merely a completed action in the future perfect (aedificauero), but the continuous maintenance of the completed state of the building.
  2. §8.2.32.prquod, si alter ex his seruitutem mihi remississet, ab eo solo liberarer, alteri nihilo minus seruitutem deberem — The conjunction quod introduces an appositional clause explaining the nature of the argumentum. Within this clause, the conditional sentence features a counterfactual protasis in the past (subjunctive pluperfect remississet) and a counterfactual apodosis in the present (subjunctive imperfect liberarer and deberem), illustrating the legal proof that the servitudes are distinct.
  3. §8.2.32.1integro statuto tempore — An ablative of time (or duration). The adjective integer (untouched, whole) emphasizes that, because the previous possession was interrupted (interpellata), the prior elapsed time is entirely lost, and the new possessor must complete the entire statutory period anew from the beginning in order to acquire freedom by usucapion.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.2.32.pr-8.2.32.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.2.32.pr-8.2.32.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.