3 So nearly akin, indeed, is purchase and sale, to letting and hiring,
that in some cases it is a question to which class of the two a contract
belongs. As an instance may be taken those lands which are delivered
over to be enjoyed for ever, upon the terms, that is to say, that so
long as the rent is paid to the owner it shall not be lawful for the
latter to take the lands away from either the original hirer, or his
heir, or any one else to whom he or his heirs has conveyed them by sale,
gift, dowry, or in any other way whatsoever. The questionings of the
earlier lawyers, some of whom thought this kind of contract a hiring,
and others a sale, occasioned the enactment of the statute of Zeno,
which determined that this contract of emphyteusis, as it is called, was
of a peculiar nature, and should not be included under either hire or
sale, but should rest on the terms of the agreement in each particular
case: so that if anything were agreed upon between the parties, this
should bind them exactly as if it were inherent in the very nature of
the contract; while if they did not agree expressly at whose risk the
land should be, it should be at that of the owner in case of total
destruction, and at that of the tenant, if the injury were merely
partial. And these rules we have adopted in our legislation.
4 Again, if a goldsmith agrees to make Titius rings of a certain weight
and pattern out of his own gold for, say, ten aurei, it is a question
whether the contract is purchase and sale or letting and hiring. Cassius
says the material is bought and sold, the labour let and hired; but it
is now settled that there is only a purchase and sale. But if Titius
provided the gold, and agreed to pay him for his work, the contract is
clearly a letting and hiring.
5 The hirer ought to observe all the terms of the contract, and in the
absence of express agreement his obligations should be ascertained by
reference to what is fair and equitable. Where a man has either given or
promised for hire for the use of clothes, silver, or a beast of burden,
he is required in his charge of it to show as much care as the most
diligent father of a family shows in his own affairs; if he do this, and
still accidentally lose it, he will be under no obligation to restore
either it or its value.
6 If the hirer dies before the time fixed for the termination of the
contract has elapsed, his heir succeeds to his rights and obligations in
respect thereof.
TITLE XXV. OF PARTNERSHIP
A partnership either extends to all the goods of the partners, when the
Greeks call it by the special name of 'koinopraxia,' or is confined to
a single sort of business, such as the purchase and sale of slaves, oil,
wine, or grain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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