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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.11.8.pr

Delayed Appearance without Prejudice and Defendant's Exception

Passage 335 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It is explained that even if the defendant appears in court several days late, if he provides an opportunity for the action and the plaintiff suffers no actual detriment, he should be allowed to defend himself by an exception.

[GAIUS libro uicensimo nono ad edictum prouinciale. ] §2.11.8.prEt si post tres aut quinque pluresue dies, quam iudicio sisti se reus promisit, secum agendi potestatem fecerit nec actoris ius ex mora deterius factum sit, consequens est dici defendi eum debere per exceptionem.
[GAIUS, in the twenty-ninth book on the Provincial Edict.] And if, three, five, or more days after the defendant promised that he would appear in court, he has offered the opportunity of bringing an action against himself, and the right of the plaintiff has not been rendered worse by the delay, the consequence is that it should be said that he ought to be defended by an exception.

Notes

  1. §2.11.8.prpost tres aut quinque pluresue dies, quam — A construction where the accusative phrase tres aut quinque pluresue dies (three, five, or more days) expressing a temporal interval is inserted between post and quam (equivalent to postquam), meaning "three, five, or more days after...".
  2. §2.11.8.prsecum agendi — The genitive of the gerund agendi modifies the noun potestatem. agere cum aliquo is a legal idiom meaning "to bring an action against someone," and the reflexive pronoun secum (with himself) refers to the subject of the conditional clause, reus (the defendant).
  3. §2.11.8.prconsequens est dici — The impersonal expression consequens est (it is a logical consequence, it follows) takes the infinitive dici (to be said) as its subject (or complement), which in turn governs the accusative with infinitive construction defendi eum debere (that he ought to be defended).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.11.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.11.8.pr

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