Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.1.9.pr

Distinction and Definition of Civil Law and the Law of Nations

Passage 9 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Gaius' famous definition of civil law and the law of nations, explaining that all peoples governed by laws and customs use both their own peculiar law and the common law of nations based on natural reason.

[GAIUS libro primo institutionum. ] §1.1.9.prOmnes populi, qui legibus et moribus reguntur, partim suo proprio, partim communi omnium hominum iure utuntur.
[GAIUS in the first book of Institutes.]\n\nAll peoples who are governed by laws and customs use partly their own peculiar law, and partly the law common to all mankind.
nam quod quisque populus ipse sibi ius constituit, id ipsius proprium ciuitatis est uocaturque ius ciuile, quasi ius proprium ipsius ciuitatis: quod uero naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit, id apud omnes peraeque custoditur uocaturque ius gentium, quasi quo iure omnes gentes utuntur.
For the law which each people has established for itself is peculiar to that state itself and is called civil law, as being, so to speak, the law peculiar to that state itself; but what natural reason has established among all mankind is observed equally among all peoples and is called the law of nations, as being, so to speak, the law which all nations use.

Notes

  1. §1.1.9.prpartim suo proprio, partim communi omnium hominum iure utuntur — suo proprio (their own) shares the ablative noun iure with the subsequent phrase communi omnium hominum iure, being omitted in the first part. The ablative iure is governed by the verb utuntur.
  2. §1.1.9.prquod quisque populus ipse sibi ius constituit — The antecedent ius is incorporated into the relative clause quod ... constituit, functioning as the object modified by the relative adjective quod. In the main clause, this entire relative clause is referred to by the demonstrative pronoun id (neuter singular nominative).
  3. §1.1.9.prquasi quo iure omnes gentes utuntur — A clause introduced by quasi (as if, so to speak). quo iure is a relative adjective modifying iure (ablative object of utuntur), incorporating the antecedent ius gentium into the relative clause. It can be understood as an elliptical structure: quasi [id sit ius] quo iure... (as if it were the law which all nations use).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.1.9.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.1.9.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.