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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.7.37.pr-11.7.37.1

Definition of Funeral Expenses and Monument Limits

Passage 1841 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Macer defines funeral expenses to include whatever is spent on the body before burial. He also cites a rescript of the deified Hadrian stating that a tomb monument is intended for protecting the burial site, and thus extravagant structures like surrounding porticos do not qualify as funeral expenses.

[AEMILIUS MACER libro primo ad legem uicensimam hereditatium. ] §11.7.37.prFuneris sumptus accipitur, quidquid corporis causa ueluti unguentorum erogatum est, et pretium loci in quo defunctus humatus est, et si qua uectigalia sunt, uel sarcophagi et uectura: et quidquid corporis causa antequam sepeliatur consumptum est, funeris impensam esse existimo.
[AEMILIUS MACER, On the Twentieth-Tax on Inheritances, book 1] By funeral expenses is understood whatever has been expended for the sake of the body, such as unguents, and the price of the ground in which the deceased was buried, and any taxes if there be such, or the sarcophagus and carriage; and whatever is consumed for the sake of the body before it is buried, I consider to be a funeral expense.
§11.7.37.1Monumentum autem sepulchri id esse diuus Hadrianus rescripsit, quod monumenti, id est causa muniendi eius loci factum sit, in quo corpus impositum sit.
Furthermore, the deified Hadrian wrote in a rescript that a monument of a tomb is that which is made for the sake of a memorial, that is, for the purpose of protecting that place in which the body has been placed.
itaque si amplum quid aedificari testator iusserit, ueluti incircum porticationes, eos sumptus funeris causa non esse.
Therefore, if a testator should order something grand to be built, such as porticoes around it, those expenses are not for the sake of the funeral.

Notes

  1. 11.7.37.prquidquid corporis causa antequam sepeliatur consumptum est, funeris impensam esse existimo — The verb existimo (I consider) governs an accusative and infinitive (A.C.I.) construction. The entire nominal clause introduced by the relative pronoun quidquid (whatever) functions as the subject accusative of the infinitive, with funeris impensam as the predicate accusative and esse as the infinitive.
  2. 11.7.37.1monumenti, id est causa muniendi — This reflects a popular etymology common among Roman jurists, linking monumentum (monument) to munire (to protect, fortify). The genitive monumenti is positioned in parallel with causa muniendi (for the purpose of protecting), implying an ellipsis of causa after monumenti (i.e., monumenti [causa], 'for the sake of a memorial'), or functioning appositively.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.7.37.pr-11.7.37.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.7.37.pr-11.7.37.1

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