Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

916 PIGNUS. PIINUS.
thing by bare agreement (nuda conventio) is pro- instance a creditor would be entitled to his necesperly Hypotheca. (Inst. 4. tit. 6. ~ 7.) The I sary. expenses concerning a slave oranllestate which
law relating to Pignus and Hypotheca was in all had been pignerated.
essentials the same. The object of the pledging is Pignus might be created by a judicial sentence,
that the pledgee shall in case of necessity sell the as for instance by the decree of the praetor giving to
pledge and pay himself his demand out of the pro- a creditor power to take possession of his debtor's
ceeds. The original nature of pledge perhaps was property (9nissio coeditoris in bosna debitor-is), either
simply the power of holding a debtor's property as a single thing, or all his property, as the case might
a umeans of compelling him to pay; and a powver of be. But the-permission or command of the magissale would be a matter of agreement: but the tratus did not effect a pledge, unless the person
later Roman jurists viewed a power of sale as a actually took possession of thle thing. The followpart of the contract of pledge. ing are instances: - the immissio damni infecti
A pledge may be given (ses hlypotlecace dlsri causa [DAMnNUOI I TNFECTUu]: legatorurn servasnpotest) for any obligation, whether nloney borrowed dorum causa, which had for its object the securing
(mutta6 pecZsica), dos, in a case of buying and sell- of a legacy which had been left sub conditione or
ing, letting and hiring, or mandatum; whether die (Dig. 36. tit. 4): missio ventris in possesthe obligatio is conditional or unconditionll; for sionem, when the pregnant widow was allowed to
part of a sum of money, as well as for the whole. take possession of the inheritance for the protec(Dig. 20. tit. 1. s. 5.) Any thing could be the ob- tion of a postumus: and the missio rei servandae
ject of pledge which could be an object of sale causa. The right which a person obtained by
(Dig. 20. tit. 1. s. 9; Dig. 20. tit. 3. Quae res such Imnmissio was called Pignus Praetoriurm. It
pignori vel hypothecae dattte obligari non possunt), was called Pignoris capio, whein the Praetor aland it might be a thing corporeal or incorporeal; lowed the goods of a person to be taken who wals
a single thing or a university of things. If a in contempt of the court, or allowed his person to
single thing was pledged, the tlling with all its ini- be seized after a judgment given against him (cir
crease was the security, as in the case of a piece cacsic jtdicacti).
of ]lsld which was increased by alluvio. If a shop There was also among the Romans a tacita
(tablersn) was pledged, all the goods in it were hypotheca, which existed not by consent of the
pledged, and if some of them were sold arid others parties, but by rule of law (i1psojieG'e), as a colsebrought in, and the pledger died, the pledgee's qulence of certain acts or agreemients, which were
security was the shop and all that it contained at not acts or agreements pertainling to pledging.
the time of the piedger's decath. (Dig. 20. tit. 1. (Dig. 20. tit. 2. 1Is qibuCs causis pigfies vel hypo.
s. 34.) If all a mIan's property was pledged, the thecc tacite coztsralitter.) These Hypotliecae were
pledge comprehended also his future property, unl- genersal or special. The following are instances of
less such property was clearly excepted. A man a whsat werel Genersal -lHypothecae. The Fiscus had a
might also pledge any claim or demand that he general hypotheca in respect of its claims oil the
had against another, whether it was a debt (niomen) property of the subject, and on the property of its
or a thing (corpus). (Dig. 13. tit. 7. s. 18.) agents or officers: the husbalnd, on the property
The act of pledging required no particular formn, of him who promised a Dios: anld legatees anlld
in which respect it resembled contracts lmade by fideicommissarii isn respect of their legascies or fideiconsensus. Nothing mlore was requisite to establish commissa, on tllhat portion of the hereditls of him
the validity of a pledge thans proof of the agree- who had to pay the legacies or fideiconllsissa.
merit of the parties to it. It was called Contractus There were other cases of general hypothecae.
pigneratitius, when it was a case of Pignus; and The following are instances of Special hlypoPacturn hypothecac, when it was a case of Hypo- thecoe: - The lessor of a Praediumn urbanunl hsad
theca: in the former case, tradition wrts necessary. anl hypotheca, in respect of his claims arising out
A man might also by hlis testament make a Pignus of the contract of hiring, on every thing which the
(Dig. 13. tit. 7. s. 26); for the Romanls applied lessee (isiqzililZds) brought upon the premises fjr
the notion of pignris to an annual payment left by constant use (iszsectae et illata). The lessor of'
way of legacy, and charged or secured on itlad. Praediumn rusticum had an hlypotheca oin the fruits
(Dig. 34. tit. 1. s. 12.) The intention of a man to of the farm as soon as they were collected by the lespledge could in any case be deduced either from see (colosus). (Dig. 20. tit. 2. s. 7; 19. tit. 2. s. 24.)
his words or from any acts which admitted of no A person who lenlt mnoney to repair a ruinous
other interpretation than an intention to pledge. house, lhad an hypotheca onl the house and the
A man could onl- pledge a thin when lie was,ground on which it stood, provided the mooney
the owner and had fill power of disposing of it; were laid out on it; but there was no hypotheca,.but a part owner of a thing could pledge his share. if the money was lent to build a house with or to
A man could pledge another man's property, if the enlarge it or ornament it. Pipilli anld minores
other consented to the pledge at the time or after- had an hypotheca on things which were bought with
wvards; but inm either case this mlust properly be their mloney.
considered the pledge of the owner for the debt of The person wiho had given a pledge, was still
another. If a man pledged a thing, which was not the owner of the thing that was pledged. I-Ie could
hiis, and afterwards became the owner of it, the therefore use the thing,, and enjoy its fruits, if he
pledge was valid. (Dig. 13. tit. 7. s. 20; 20. tit. had not given up the possession. But the agree2. s. 5.) menot might be that the creditor shoulld have thie
The amount for which a pledge was security de- use or profit of the thing instead of interest, which
pended on the agreementt: it might be for principal kinld of contract was called Alltichresis or mnutual
and interest, or for either; or it might comprehend use: and if there was no agreement tas to use, the
principal and interest, and all costs and expenses creditor could not use the thing, even if it was isn
which the pledgee might be put to on acconlt of the his possession. The pledger could also sell the
fiing pledged. (Dig. 13. tit. 17. s. 8, 25.) For thing pledged, unless there were s,)lle a(greement