IGNIS, INCENDIUM, FORTUITUS CASUS – D. 19, 2, 9, 3 I OPASNOST ŠTETE OD POŽARA KOD LOCATIO FUNDI

Abstract

The paper discusses the issues of the contents and the significance of Ulpian’s text D. 19, 2, 9, 3 within a wider context of allocation of risk in lease agreements and the place of fire, conflagration (incendium) among the different forms of vis maior in Roman legal sources. Considering the problem of subsequent impossibility of performance in locatio conductio (rei), D. 19, 2, 9, 3 stands out as the one mentioning periculum in relation to locatio fundi, however, it is burdened by different interpretations. The analysis in the article starts with the D. 19, 2, 9, 3 and then continues setting it in the context of other related texts in which the Roman jurists dealt with the problem of fire in lease agreements. The conclusion is drawn on the probable changes in the text as well as on the function of the term fortuitus casus in the line of the texts dealing with fire. It emphasizes the connection between fire (ignis) and conflagration (incendium) marked by the words fortuitus casus, which would show a differentiated approach to incendium as a form and an example of vis maior.