Scope of Children of Senators and Maternal Descendants — Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian Book 1 (1.9.10.pr), Latin & English

[ULPIANUS libro trigensimo quarto ad edictum.]

[ULPIAN, On the Edict, book 34]

§1.9.10.pr

Liberos senatorum accipere¹ debemus non tantum senatorum filios, uerum omnes, qui geniti ex ipsis exue² liberis eorum dicantur, siue naturales siue adoptiui sint liberi senatorum, ex quibus nati dicuntur.³ sed si ex filia senatoris natus sit, spectare debemus patris eius condicionem.

We ought to understand “children of senators” to mean not only the sons of senators, but all who are said to be begotten by them or by their children, whether the children of senators from whom they are said to be born are natural or adoptive. But if a child is born of the daughter of a senator, we must look to the condition of his father.

Syntax notes3 items

1.9.10.praccipere
In this context, it is used not in its general sense of 'to receive', but in the technical legal sense of 'to interpret' or 'to understand' a term in a legal text.
1.9.10.prexue
This is a variant spelling (or copyist error) for exve, which consists of the preposition ex and the enclitic disjunctive conjunction -ve ('or'). Therefore, it should be read as ex-ve liberis eorum ('or from their children').
1.9.10.prsiue naturales siue adoptiui sint liberi senatorum, ex quibus nati dicuntur
Here 'liberi senatorum' is the subject of 'sint', and 'ex quibus' is a relative clause qualifying 'liberi'. The phrase 'nati dicuntur' refers to the descendants being born from them. Literally: 'whether the children of senators, from whom they [the descendants] are said to be born, be natural or adoptive'.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-07-12)urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.9.10.pr