Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.3.29.pr

Scope of Drainage Servitude Created by Sale

Passage 1438 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

When one of two adjacent estates was sold with a drainage servitude established in the sale contract, a question arose whether the buyer could drain water brought from another estate into the lower land, and it was answered that the lower neighbor is only obliged to receive water drained for drying the purchased estate itself.

[PAULUS libro secundo epitomarum Alfeni digestorum. ] §8.3.29.prQui duo praedia confinia habuerat, superiorem fundum uendiderat: in lege ita dixerat, ut aquam sulco aperto emptori educere in fundum inferiorem recte liceat: si emptor ex alio fundo aquam acciperet et eam in inferiorem ducere uellet, quaesitum est, an possit id suo iure facere nec ne.
[PAULUS, Epitome of Alfenus' Digests, Book 2] A person who had owned two adjoining estates had sold the upper estate; in the contract of sale he had provided that the buyer should be rightfully permitted to drain water by an open ditch into the lower estate. If the buyer should receive water from another estate and wish to conduct it into the lower estate, the question arose whether he could do this of his own right or not.
respondi nihil amplius, quam quod ipsius fundi siccandi causa deriuaret, uicinum inferiorem recipere debere.
I replied that the lower neighbor is under no obligation to receive anything more than what the buyer drains for the purpose of drying that estate itself.

Notes

  1. 8.3.29.prin lege — Here, lex refers to the specific terms or conditions of the contract of sale (lex venditionis).
  2. 8.3.29.prnihil amplius, quam quod ipsius fundi siccandi causa deriuaret, uicinum inferiorem recipere debere — An accusative-with-infinitive construction (indirect speech) dependent on the verb respondi. The subject accusative of debere (to be obliged) is uicinum inferiorem (the lower neighbor), and recipere (to receive) is the complementary infinitive. The object of recipere is nihil amplius (nothing more), which is qualified by the comparative clause quam quod... (than what...). The verb deriuaret is in the subjunctive because it is a subordinate clause within indirect speech.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.3.29.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.3.29.pr

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.