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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.18.16.pr

Restrictions on Lawsuits Involving Governors in Office

Passage 218 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Macer explains the senatorial decree stating that lawsuits concerning contracts made by provincial governors or their staff before arrival are restricted during their term and restored after their departure, while limited judicial relief is granted for involuntary injuries like theft.

[MACER libro primo de officio praesidis. ] §1.18.16.prSenatus consulto cauetur, ut de his, quae prouincias regentes, comites aut libertini eorum, antequam in prouinciam uenerint, contraxerunt, parcissime ius dicatur, ita ut actiones, quae ob eam causam institutae non essent, posteaquam quis eorum ea prouincia excesserit, restituerentur.
[MACER, in the first book on the Office of the Governor.] It is provided by a decree of the Senate that concerning those contracts which those governing provinces, their companions, or their freedmen have entered into before they came into the province, justice should be administered very sparingly, so that the actions which had not been instituted for that cause should be restored after any of them has departed from that province.
si quid tamen inuito accidit, ueluti si iniuriam aut furtum passus est, hactenus ei ius dicendum est, ut litem contestetur resque ablata exhibeatur et deponatur aut sisti exhiberiue satisdato promittatur.
If, however, anything happens against their will, for instance, if one has suffered an injury or a theft, justice must be administered for him only to this extent, that the issue may be joined, and the thing taken away may be produced and deposited, or it may be promised under security that it will be produced or exhibited.

Notes

  1. 1.18.16.prquae ... contraxerunt — 'quae' is the direct object (neuter plural accusative) of 'contraxerunt' (to contract, incur a debt), modifying the antecedent 'his' (neuter plural ablative).
  2. 1.18.16.prita ut ... restituerentur — The clause 'ita ut' with the subjunctive 'restituerentur' expresses a result or a restrictive effect, indicating that the actions restricted during tenure are to be restored after their departure.
  3. 1.18.16.prhactenus ... ut — The correlative expression 'hactenus... ut' (only to the extent that...) strictly limits the scope of 'ius dicendum est' (justice must be administered) to the actions detailed in the subsequent subjunctive verbs ('contestetur', 'exhibeatur', 'deponatur', 'promittatur').
  4. 1.18.16.prsatisdato — This is an ablative absolute (or an adverbial expression) of the perfect participle of 'satisdare' (to give security, provide a guarantee), meaning 'security having been given' or 'under security.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.18.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.18.16.pr

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