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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §9.2.54.pr

Injury to Promised Animals and Default by the Debtor

Passage 1571 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It discusses the debtor's right of action under the Lex Aquilia if the promised animal is injured before default, and the debtor's release and the denial of the creditor's action if the creditor kills the animal after the debtor's default.

[PAPINIANUS libro trigensimo septimo quaestionum. ] §9.2.54.prLegis Aquiliae debitori P ante moram promissum animal uulnerauit: idem est et si occiderit animal.
[PAPINIANUS, in the thirty-seventh book of Questions.] If [someone] injures an animal promised [in delivery] before the debtor is in default, the debtor has an action under the Lex Aquilia; the same is true also if [someone] kills the animal.
quod si post moram promissoris qui stipulatus fuerat occidit, debitor quidem liberatur, lege autem Aquilia hoc casu non recte experietur: nam creditor ipse sibi potius quam alii iniuriam fecisse uidetur.
But if, after the default of the promisor, the stipulator kills the animal, the debtor is indeed released, but [the creditor] will not successfully sue under the Lex Aquilia in this case; for the creditor is deemed to have done an injury to himself rather than to another.

Notes

  1. §9.2.54.prLegis Aquiliae debitori P — The text "P" in the manuscripts is corrupt, and is commonly understood to have a lacuna where "actio competit" (or similar) and a conditional conjunction like "si" or "si quis" have been lost. Thus, it is interpreted as "the debtor (debitori, dative) has an action under the Lex Aquilia."
  2. §9.2.54.prqui stipulatus fuerat occidit — "qui" is a relative pronoun without an explicit antecedent, referring to "the one who had stipulated" (= the creditor), which serves as the subject of the verb "occidit" in the conditional clause.
  3. §9.2.54.prexperietur — The subject of the deponent verb "experietur" (3rd person singular future) is not "debitor" from the immediately preceding main clause, but "qui stipulatus fuerat" (= creditor) from the conditional clause. This is confirmed by the subsequent explanatory clause "nam creditor...".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §9.2.54.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:9.2.54.pr

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