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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.7.36.pr

Recovery of Sacred Status of Liberated Land via Postliminium

Passage 1840 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius explains that although places captured by the enemy temporarily lose their religious or sacred character, they recover their former status upon liberation, by analogy with the right of postliminium.

[POMPONIUS libro uicensimo sexto ad Quintum Mucium. ] §11.7.36.prCum loca capta sunt ab hostibus, omnia desinunt religiosa uel sacra esse, sicut homines liberi in seruitutem perueniunt: quod si ab hac calamitate fuerint liberata, quasi quodam postliminio reuersa pristino statui restituuntur.
[POMPONIUS, On Quintus Mucius, book 26] When places are captured by enemies, all of them cease to be religious or sacred, just as free men fall into slavery; but if they should be liberated from this calamity, they are restored to their former status, having returned as if by a kind of right of postliminium.

Notes

  1. §11.7.36.prfuerint liberata, quasi quodam postliminio reuersa — The future perfect passive participle liberata and the perfect participle reuersa are both neuter plural nominative, indicating that their subject is loca (neuter plural) from the main clause, rather than homines liberi (masculine plural) from the preceding comparison clause. Thus, it is the "places" that are liberated and restored.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.7.36.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.7.36.pr

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