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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.7.39.pr

Inviolability of Buried Bodies and Moving Chests

Passage 1843 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Marcian cites an imperial edict protecting buried bodies from disturbance. This protection applies even if the body is in a chest, provided there is no intention to move it, though moving the chest to a more suitable location is permitted if necessary.

[MARCIANUS libro tertio institutionum. ] §11.7.39.prDiui fratres edicto admonuerunt, ne iustae sepulturae tradium, id est terra conditum corpus inquietetur: uidetur autem terra conditum et si in arcula conditum hoc animo sit, ut non alibi transferatur.
[MARCIAN, Institutes, book 3] The deified brothers warned by an edict that a body which has been delivered to a lawful burial, that is, committed to the earth, must not be disturbed; moreover, it is deemed to be committed to the earth even if it is placed in a small chest, provided that it is with the intention that it should not be transferred elsewhere.
sed arculam ipsam, si res exigat, in locum commodiorem licere transferre non est denegandum.
But it must not be denied that, if circumstances require, it is permitted to transfer the chest itself to a more convenient place.

Notes

  1. §11.7.39.prtradium — This is a scribal error or misprint for traditum, the perfect passive participle (neuter singular nominative) of trado (to hand over / deliver). Thus, iustae sepulturae traditum means 'delivered to a lawful burial'.
  2. §11.7.39.prhoc animo sit, ut non alibi transferatur — The phrase hoc animo is an ablative of quality (or description) used with the copula sit to express the intention or state of the subject (corpus). The ut-clause functions as a noun clause (of apposition or result) explaining the content of that intention.
  3. §11.7.39.prlicere transferre non est denegandum — The phrase non est denegandum is an impersonal passive construction with a gerundive, meaning 'it must not be denied'. Its subject is the accusative-with-infinitive clause, where licere acts as the main infinitive, taking arculam ipsam as its subject and transferre as its complementary infinitive.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.7.39.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.7.39.pr

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