Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles - The Ludwig von Mises ...

The Legal Nature of the Monetary Irregular-Deposit Contract 29In other words, Paul clearly indicates that in the monetaryirregular deposit the depositary’s only obligation is to returnthe tantundem: the equivalent in quantity and quality of theoriginal deposit. Moreover, whenever anyone made an irregulardeposit of money, he received a written certificate ordeposit slip. We know this because Papinian, in paragraph 24,title 3, book 16 of the Digest, says in reference to a monetaryirregular deposit,I write this letter by hand to inform you, so that you will know,that the one hundred coins you have entrusted to me todaythrough Sticho, the slave and administrator, are in my possessionand I will return them to you immediately, wheneverand wherever you wish.This passage reveals the immediate availability of themoney to the depositor and the custom of giving him adeposit slip or receipt certifying a monetary irregular deposit,which not only established ownership, but also had to be presentedupon withdrawal. 36during the time Papinian was a member of the imperial council underSeverus and Caracalla. He was a very ingenious, learned figure and theauthor of numerous writings. The passage cited in the text is as followsin Latin:Idem iuris esse in deposito; nam si quis pecuniam numeratamita deposuisset ut neque clausam, neque obsignatam traderet,sed adnumeraret, nihil aliud eum debere, apud quemdeposita esset, nisi tantundem pecuniae solvere. (See IldefonsoL. García del Corral, ed., Cuerpo de derecho civil romano, 6 vols.[Valladolid: Editorial Lex Nova, 1988], vol. 1, p. 963)36 Papinian, a native of Syria, was Praefectus Praetorio beginning in theyear 203 A.D. and was sentenced to death by the emperor Caracalla inthe year 212 for refusing to justify the murder of his brother, Geta. Heshared with Julianus the reputation for being the most notable of Romanjurists, and according to Juan Iglesias, “His writings are remarkable fortheir astuteness and pragmatism, as well as for their sober style” (Derechoromano: Instituciones de derecho privado, p. 58). The passage cited in thetext is as follows in Latin:centum numos, quos hac die commendasti mihi annumeranteservo Sticho actore, esse apud me, ut notum haberes, hac epitistolamanu mea scripta tibi notum facio; quae quando volis,et ubi voles, confestim tibi numerabo. (García del Corral, ed.,Cuerpo de derecho civil romano, vol. 1, p. 840)