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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §16.1.23.pr

False or Mistaken Claim of Heirship by a Woman and the Decree

Passage 2369 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A woman who falsely answers in court that she is an heir is denied the protection of the senate decree, whereas if she answers under a mistake, she is assisted by its exception.

[IDEM libro singulari ad senatus consultum Velleianum. ] §16.1.23.prSi mulier in iure interrogata responderit se heredem esse, si sciens se heredem non esse responderit, minime intercessisse uideri, quia decepit: quod si existimauit se heredem et eo nomine decepta responderit, in eam actionem quidem dari plerique existimauerunt, sed exceptione senatus consulti adiuuari.
[THE SAME, In a Single Book on the Senate Decree Velleianum.] If a woman, on being questioned in court, has answered that she is the heir, if she has answered knowing that she is not the heir, she is deemed not to have intervened at all, because she deceived; but if she believed herself to be the heir and, being deceived on that account, has answered, most jurists have thought that an action indeed is granted against her, but that she is assisted by the exception of the senate decree.

Notes

  1. §16.1.23.prminime intercessisse uideri — An accusative-with-infinitive construction in indirect discourse, where the subject accusative of the infinitive `uideri` (`mulierem`) is omitted. `intercessisse` is a legal term meaning 'to have intervened (undertaken a debt for another)'; it indicates that a woman who deceives is denied the protection of the senate decree.
  2. §16.1.23.prin eam actionem quidem dari — A hyperbaton for `actionem in eam dari`. `eam` is the accusative singular pronoun referring to the woman, governed by the preposition `in` ('against'). The infinitive `dari` forms part of the accusative-with-infinitive clause dependent on `existimauerunt`.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §16.1.23.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:16.1.23.pr

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