Navis ex Asia
Occasionally, incidentally, the distinction between condicio and dies could be blurred. Thus, there was the rather surprising concept of a condition which was bound to materialize; premature payment, as we have seen, was not recoverable and this "condition" was thus, as far as the condictio indebiti is concerned, subjected to the same regime as a time clause.180 Another particularly interesting example is related by Paulus in D.
18, 6, 8, 1. Here we read of the sale of a slave concluded in the following terms: "[E]st ille servus tibi emptus, sive navis ex Asia venerit sive non venerit." Is the contract immediately perfecta, so that the risk has passed to the purchaser? At first blush, one would probably not think so. Unquestionably, the sale is subject to two (suspensive) conditions and we know that even one of them would have been sufficient to prevent the passing of the risk. Yet, in this particular case the two conditions are contradictory: the slave is to be sold if the ship arrives and also if it does not arrive from Asia. In other words: the slave will, in any event, at some stage be sold, for it is absolutely certain that the voyage of the ship will come to an end—one way or the other. In substance, the two conditions therefore amount to a dies (incertus quando) and this is, probably,181 the reason why Julian concludes "statim perfectam esse venditionem".VI.
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- Roman Law Terms with Letters I
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- Structure and scope
- The Survival of the Empire in the East
- The Administration of the Provinces
- The Etruscans
- Curbs on rapacity: some cases
- USUS HODIERNUS
- INTRODUCTION: CITIES AND EMPIRE
- 9 THE DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE
- Preface