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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.4.10.pr

Reservation of Servitude by Seller and Extinction by Merger

Passage 1457 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text explains that a seller must explicitly reserve any servitude for themselves, as general clauses only apply to third parties, and that a servitude is extinguished by merger when ownership of the servient property is acquired.

[ULPIANUS libro decimo ad Sabinum. ] §8.4.10.prQuidquid uenditor seruitutis nomine sibi recipere uult, nominatim recipi oportet: nam illa generalis receptio 'quibus est seruitus, utique esto' ad extraneos pertinet, ipsi nihil prospicit uenditori ad iura eius conseruanda: nulla enim habuit, quia nemo ipse sibi seruitutem debet: quin immo et si debita fuit seruitus, deinde dominium rei seruientis peruenit ad me, consequenter dicitur extingui seruitutem.
[ULPIAN, on Sabinus, book 10] Whatever a seller wishes to reserve for himself under the name of a servitude must be reserved specifically; for that general reservation "for those who have a servitude, let it by all means exist" pertains to third parties, and provides nothing for the seller himself to preserve his rights; for he held no servitude, because no one can owe a servitude to himself. Nay rather, even if a servitude was owed, and then the ownership of the serving property came to me, it is consequently said that the servitude is extinguished.

Notes

  1. §8.4.10.prnulla enim habuit — The subject of the verb habuit is the seller (uenditor). The object nulla is either a feminine singular accusative standing for nullam (seruitutem) (as corrected in some manuscripts) or a neuter plural accusative representing nulla iura (no rights). In either case, it indicates that the seller held no servitude over the property because an owner cannot hold a servitude over his own property.
  2. §8.4.10.prconsequenter dicitur extingui seruitutem — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction (extingui seruitutem) depends on dicitur. Although classical Latin often prefers a personal construction with nominative and infinitive (N.C.I., e.g., seruitus dicitur extingui), here it is used impersonally ("it is said that the servitude is extinguished").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.4.10.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.4.10.pr

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