Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.5.11.pr

Building on Common Land and the Co-Owner's Prohibition

Passage 1476 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses whether a co-owner can build on common land against the will of others and the legal remedies available, concluding that a co-owner's right of prohibition takes precedence over the right of performing an action.

[MARCELLUS libro sexto digestorum. ] §8.5.11.prAn unus ex sociis in communi loco inuitis ceteris iure aedificare possit, id est an, si prohibeatur a sociis, possit cum his ita experiri ius sibi esse aedificare, et an socii cum eo ita agere possint ius sibi prohibendi esse uel illi ius aedificandi non esse: et si aedificatum iam sit, non possit cum co ita experiri ius tibi non esse ita aedificatum habere, quaeritur. et magis dici potest prohibendi potius quam faciendi esse ius socio, quia magis ille, qui facere conatur ut dixi, quodammodo sibi alienum quoque ius praeripit, si quasi solus dominus ad suum arbitrium uti iure communi uelit.
[MARCELLUS, book 6 of the Digests.] The question is raised whether one of the co-owners can lawfully build on common land against the will of the others; that is, whether, if he is forbidden by the co-owners, he can proceed against them at law to show that he has the right to build; and whether the co-owners can bring an action against him to show that they have the right of prohibition or that he does not have the right to build; and, if it has already been built, whether they can proceed against him to show that "you do not have the right to keep it so built." And it can rather be said that the co-owner has the right of prohibition rather than that of performance, because he who attempts to build, as I have said, in a way preempts another's right as well, if he wishes to use the common right at his own discretion as if he were the sole owner.

Notes

  1. 8.5.11.prinuitis ceteris — An ablative absolute construction consisting of a noun and the adjective invitus without a participle, meaning 'with the others being unwilling' or 'against the will of the others'.
  2. 8.5.11.prtibi — The second-person pronoun in the dative, tibi, is used because it reflects the standard formulaic language of a legal claim directed by the plaintiff against the defendant (the co-owner who built).
  3. 8.5.11.prius socio — The noun socio is a dative of possession, meaning 'the co-owner has'. The forms prohibendi (of forbidding) and faciendi (of doing) are gerunds in the genitive case modifying the noun ius.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.5.11.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.5.11.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.