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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.3.36.pr

The Great Authority of Custom Law Requiring No Writing

Passage 55 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus argues that unwritten customary law is held to be of great authority precisely because it has been so thoroughly approved that there was no need to write it down.

[PAULUS libro VII ad Sabinum. ] §1.3.36.prImmo magnae auctoritatis hoc ius habetur, quod in tantum probatum est, ut non fuerit necesse scripto id comprehendere.
[PAULUS, On Sabinus, book 7] Nay, this law is held to be of great authority, which has been approved to such an extent that it was not necessary to encompass it in writing.

Notes

  1. §1.3.36.prmagnae auctoritatis — Genitive of quality (genitivus qualitatis) functioning as a predicative complement of the verb habetur ("is held to be of great authority").
  2. §1.3.36.prquod — Relative pronoun in the nominative neuter singular, introducing a relative clause modifying the antecedent hoc ius. While parsed as a relative clause ("this law, which..."), it functions virtually as a causal clause in this context.
  3. §1.3.36.prfuerit — Subjunctive perfect in the result clause (ut...), used instead of the imperfect (esset) to emphasize the historical fact of the past outcome (that there was actually no necessity).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.3.36.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.3.36.pr

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