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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.12.8.pr

Legal Definition of a Day under Roman Custom

Passage 350 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text defines a day according to Roman custom as the twenty-four hours from one midnight to the next, establishing that any act performed within this period has the same legal validity as if done during daylight hours.

[PAULUS libro tertio decimo ad Sabinum. ] §2.12.8.prMore Romano dies a media nocte incipit et sequentis noctis media parte finitur.
[PAULUS, On Sabinus, book 13] According to Roman custom, a day begins at midnight and ends at the middle part of the following night.
itaque quidquid in his niginti quattuor horis, id est duabus dimidiatis noctibus et luce media, actum est, perinde est, quasi quauis hora lucis actum esset.
Therefore, whatever has been done in these twenty-four hours, that is, in two halved nights and the intervening daylight, is just as if it had been done at any hour of the day.

Notes

  1. §2.12.8.prsequentis noctis media parte — Ablative of time. Corresponding to the preceding "a media nocte" (from midnight), it indicates that the day ends at the middle of the following night, which is the next midnight.
  2. §2.12.8.prduabus dimidiatis noctibus et luce media — An appositive explanation of the constituent parts of the twenty-four hours. A day consists of "midnight to dawn (the latter half-night)", "daylight (intervening light)", and "dusk to midnight (the former half-night)", which is phrased as "two halved nights and the intervening light".
  3. §2.12.8.prperinde est, quasi ... actum esset — The comparative conditional conjunction `quasi` is used here with the subjunctive pluperfect (`actum esset`) to express a contrary-to-fact scenario, treating an act that may have actually occurred at night as legally equivalent to one performed during daylight hours.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.12.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.12.8.pr

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