The standard of diligentia quam in suis in the roman law and the brazilian Civil Code

Abstract

The standard of diligentia quam suis was used in Roman law as a parameter to measure the responsibility of those who have a good of others, either by having it on deposit, custody or management duty, as was the case of the partner in the Roman societas, the husband in the dowry administration, or the tutor in managing of pupil’s property. It was the duty of care, due diligence, imposed who had the good of others under their custody and administration, in order to take care of it, the way was their own property. This standard was used to ascertain the responsibility of the person by bad maintenance, storage and deterioration of the thing. In the current Brazilian law, we observe similar duty imposed on the administrator of business companies, the depositary and the lending.