Conditional sale and “emptio perfecta” concerning the risks of the goods sold (“periculum rei venditae”)

Abstract

Based mostly upon the exegesis of Paul. 33 ad ed., D. 18, 6, 8 pr., the Author seeks to verify the theory proposed by E. Seckel-E. Levy, and seconded by M. Talamanca, according to which it was the Proculian School who adopted the rule that the purchaser must bear the risk that the object of sale might be lost, destroyed or damaged (“periculum est emptoris”) and extended the application of such rule even in the case that an ‘act of God’ might occur before the satisfaction of the condition upon which the effectiveness of the contract was dependent.