Da ‘opus’ a ‘opera’: considerazioni tra lingua e diritto

Abstract

Abstract - The linguistic derivation of ‘opera’ from ‘opus’ allows us to advance useful hypotheses on the recent nature of the locatio operarum. From the primitive unity of the locatio-conductio the locatio operarum would in fact have detached itself from the locatio rei in order to move the object of the assignment from the person of the worker to his activity and thus allow the work of the free man who subjected himself imperio alterius et potestati (Cic. Off. 22) for economic reasons. An attraction towards the obligation to do from the original obligation to give would have been exercised precisely by the locatio operis, which left the worker with greater managerial autonomy, limiting the control of the counterpart to the fairness of the corpus perfectum to be returned, without dividing the actions into individual operae to be carried out under the guidelines of others.