Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.18.3.pr

Scope and Exceptions of a Governor's Command

Passage 205 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment explains the territorial and personal limits of a provincial governor's power, as well as the exceptional jurisdiction over foreigners who commit offenses within the province, citing imperial mandates.

[PAULUS libro tertio decimo ad Sabinum. ] §1.18.3.prPraeses prouinciae in suae prouinciae homines tantum imperium habet, et hoc dum in prouincia est: nam si excesserit, priuatus est.
[PAUL, from the thirteenth book On Sabinus.] A governor of a province has power only over the inhabitants of his own province, and this only as long as he is in the province; for if he departs from it, he becomes a private citizen.
habet interdum imperium et aduersus extraneos homines, si quid manu commiserint: nam et in mandatis principum est, ut curet is, qui prouinciae praeest, malis hominibus prouinciam purgare, nec distinguuntur unde sint.
He sometimes has power also against foreigners, if they have committed any offense by active deed; for it is also in the mandates of the emperors that he who is in charge of a province should take care to cleanse the province of bad men, and no distinction is made as to where they are from.

Notes

  1. §1.18.3.prmanu — Ablative singular of the noun manus (hand). Rather than a literal translation, it functions idiomatically here to mean "by active deed" or "by physical act of commission" in the context of committing an offense.
  2. §1.18.3.prmalis hominibus — Ablative plural of malus homo (bad man). It functions as an ablative of separation dependent on the verb purgare (to cleanse, purify), following the construction purgare aliquid (accusative) aliqua re (ablative) meaning "to cleanse something of something."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.18.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.18.3.pr

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