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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §1.5.7.pr

Fictional Birth and Legal Protection for the Unborn

Passage 71 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A rule regarding the legal status of an unborn child, who is protected as if already born whenever their own interests are concerned, though they cannot benefit anyone else before birth.

[PAULUS libro singulari de portionibus, quae liberis damnatorum conceduntur. ] §1.5.7.prQui in utero est, perinde ac si in rebus humanis esset custoditur, quotiens de commodis ipsius partus quaeritur: quamquam alii antequam nascatur nequaquam prosit.
[PAULUS, in his single book on the portions granted to the children of condemned persons] He who is in the womb is protected, just as if he were already in human existence, whenever a question arises concerning the advantages of the offspring itself; although before he is born, he in no way benefits another.

Notes

  1. §1.5.7.prperinde ac si ... esset — A construction expressing a conditional comparison. The imperfect subjunctive esset is used for a condition contrary to present fact, meaning "just as if ... were."
  2. §1.5.7.pripsius partus — partus is the genitive singular of the fourth-declension noun partus (birth, offspring, fetus). Here it functions as a restrictive genitive referring to the interests of the unborn child itself.
  3. §1.5.7.prquamquam ... prosit — The conjunction quamquam is followed by the subjunctive prosit. While the indicative is standard in classical Latin, the subjunctive in concessive clauses is widely found in post-classical and legal Latin. alii is the dative object of prosum.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §1.5.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.5.7.pr

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