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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.3.35.pr

Custom as Tacit Agreement and Equal Authority to Statute

Passage 54 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that laws approved and observed through long custom should be kept no less than written laws, serving as a tacit agreement among citizens.

[HERMOGENIANUS libro I iuris epitomarum. ] §1.3.35.prSed et ea, quae longa consuetudine comprobata sunt ac per annos plurimos obseruata, uelut tacita ciuium conuentio non minus quam ea quae scripta sunt iura seruantur.
[HERMOGENIANUS, Epitomes of Law, book 1] But also those things which have been approved by long custom and observed for very many years, as if a tacit agreement of the citizens, are observed no less than those laws which are written.

Notes

  1. §1.3.35.pruelut tacita ciuium conuentio — The nominative noun conuentio is inserted with the conjunction uelut (as if). It functions as a predicative nominative (or apposition) metaphorically explaining the nature of the neuter plural subject ea (the rules approved by custom).
  2. §1.3.35.prea, quae ... non minus quam ea quae scripta sunt iura — The first ea (neuter plural) is a pronoun referring to "those things (legal rules)." In the compared phrase ea quae scripta sunt iura, the noun iura (laws), which would logically be the antecedent of quae, is incorporated into the relative clause, meaning "those laws which are written."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.3.35.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.3.35.pr

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