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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.3.21.pr

Danger of Inquiring into Reasons for Established Laws

Passage 40 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Neratius states that the reasons behind established laws should not be inquired into, warning that otherwise, many well-established rules would be overturned.

[NERATIUS libro VI membranarum. ] §1.3.21.pret ideo rationes eorum, quae constituuntur, inquiri non oportet: alioquin multa ex his quae certa sunt subuertuntur.
[NERATIUS, Parchments, Book 6] And therefore, the reasons for those things which are established should not be inquired into; otherwise, many of those things which are certain are overturned.

Notes

  1. §1.3.21.prnon oportet — The impersonal verb oportet governs an accusative and infinitive construction (A.C.I.). Here, the passive infinitive inquiri ('to be inquired into') and its subject accusative rationes ('reasons') form the clause 'reasons should not be inquired into'.
  2. §1.3.21.pralioquin multa ex his quae certa sunt subuertuntur — The adverb alioquin ('otherwise') implies a hypothetical condition ('if reasons were to be inquired into'). The verb of the apodosis, subuertuntur, is in the indicative present rather than the subjunctive, which stresses that the destabilization of established law would follow as an inevitable and direct consequence rather than a mere possibility.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.3.21.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.3.21.pr

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