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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.18.21.pr

Severe Punishment by Governors for Corrupting Slaves

Passage 223 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage states that when a governor hears cases concerning corrupted or abused slaves, he must inflict the severest punishment if the corrupted person is a business agent or someone whose corruption leads to the ruin of the entire household.

[PAULUS libro singulari de officio adsessorum. ] §1.18.21.prPraeses cum cognoscat de seruo corrupto uel ancilla deuirginata uel seruo stuprato, si actor rerum agentis corruptus esse dicetur uel eiusmodi homo, ut non ad solam iacturam aduersus substantiam, sed ad totius domus euersionem pertineat: seuerissime debet animaduertere.
[PAULUS, in his single book on the Office of Assessors.] When a governor hears a case concerning a corrupted slave, or a deflowered maidservant, or a sodomized male slave, if the person said to have been corrupted is an agent managing affairs, or a person of such a character that the consequences extend not merely to a loss of property, but to the ruin of the entire household: he must punish most severely.

Notes

  1. §1.18.21.practor rerum agentis — This phrase consists of `actor rerum` (manager of affairs) and `agentis` (genitive of `agens`, meaning "acting" or "agent"), referring to an administrator who conducts business on behalf of an absent master. The corruption of such a high-status figure threatened the entire household, thereby warranting a harsher punishment.
  2. §1.18.21.preiusmodi homo, ut... pertineat — `eiusmodi` (of such a kind) qualifies `homo`, which is followed by the consecutive `ut` clause with the subjunctive present `pertineat`. The subject of `pertineat` is implied from the context, referring to the "corruption" or "affair" of the person in question.
  3. §1.18.21.pranimaduertere — While the verb originally means "to notice" or "to direct one's attention," in legal contexts it carries the specialized meaning of "to punish" or "to inflict penalty."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.18.21.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.18.21.pr

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