plaintiff sues at Ephesus--that is, in our example, at the place agreed
upon for the payment--he need do no more than simply allege the debt,
as the praetor too points out, because the debtor has all the advantage
which payment in that particular place gives him. Overclaim in respect
of specification closely resembles overclaim in respect of place, and
may be exemplified by a man's stipulating from you 'do you promise
to convey Stichus or ten aurei?' and then suing for the one or the
other--that is to say, either for the slave only, or for the money only.
The reason why this is an overclaim is that in stipulations of this sort
it is the promisor who has the election, and who may give the slave
or the money, whichever he prefers; consequently if the promisee sues,
alleging that either the money alone, or the slave alone, ought to be
conveyed to him, he deprives his adversary of his election, and thereby
puts him in a worse position, while he himself acquires an undue
advantage. Other cases of this form of overclaim occur where a man,
having stipulated in general terms for a slave, for wine, or for purple,
sues for the particular slave Stichus, or for the particular wine
of Campania, or for Tyrian purple; for in all of these instances he
deprives his adversary of his election, who was entitled, under the
terms of the stipulation, to discharge his obligation in a mode other
than that which is required of him. And even though the specific thing
for which the promisee sues be of little or no value, it is still an
overclaim: for it is often easier for a debtor to pay what is of greater
value than what is actually demanded of him. Such were the rules of the
older law, which, however, has been made more liberal by our own and
Zeno's statutes. Where the overclaim relates to time, the constitution
of Zeno prescribes the proper procedure; if it relates to quantity, or
assumes any other form, the plaintiff, as we have remarked above, is
to be condemned in a sum equivalent to three times any loss which the
defendant may have sustained thereby.
34 If the plaintiff in his statement of claim demands less than is his
due, as for instance by alleging a debt of five aurei, when in fact he
is owed ten, or by claiming only half of an estate the whole of which
really belongs to him, he runs no risk thereby, for, by the constitution
of Zeno of sacred memory, the judge will in the same action condemn the
defendant in the residue as well as in the amount actually claimed.
35 If he demands the wrong thing in his statement of claim, the rule is
that he runs no risk; for if he discovers his mistake, we allow him
to set it right in the same action. For instance, a plaintiff who is
entitled to the slave Stichus may claim Eros; or he may allege that he
is entitled to a conveyance under a will, when his right is founded in
reality upon a stipulation.
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