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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.5.16.pr

Birth Order of Twins and Manumission Conditions

Passage 80 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that if Arescusa gives birth to twins after already having two children, only the second twin (the fourth child) is born free-born, and states that this is a question of fact regarding the order of birth, not a question of law.

[ULPIANUS libro sexto disputationum. ] §1.5.16.prIdem erit, si eadem Arescusa primo duo pepererat, postea geminos ediderat: dicendum est enim non posse dici utrumque ingenuum nasci, sed eum qui posterior nascitur.
[ULPIANUS, in the sixth book of Discussions.] The same will apply if the same Arescusa had first given birth to two children, and afterwards had brought forth twins: for it must be said that it cannot be held that both are born free-born, but only the one who is born later.
quaestio ergo facti potius est, non iuris.
Therefore, it is rather a question of fact, not of law.

Notes

  1. §1.5.16.prdicendum est enim non posse dici utrumque ingenuum nasci — The impersonal gerundive phrase `dicendum est` introduces an accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction, within which the impersonal passive infinitive `non posse dici` (it cannot be said) takes another A.C.I. clause `utrumque... nasci` (that both are born) as its subject, forming a nested double A.C.I. structure.
  2. §1.5.16.prsed eum qui posterior nascitur — After the contrastive conjunction `sed`, the phrase `ingenuum nasci posse dici` is omitted from the preceding clause. `eum` is the antecedent of the relative pronoun `qui`, and the comparative `posterior` refers specifically to the second-born of the twins ("the later of the two").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.5.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.5.16.pr

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