Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §22.5.17.pr

Witness Eligibility of Fathers, Sons, and Brothers

Passage 3270 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the rule and its reasoning that a father and son, or two brothers under the same father's power, can both act as witnesses in the same will or legal transaction.

[ULPIANUS libro singulari regularum. ] §22.5.17.prPater et filius qui in potestate eius est, item duo fratres qui in eiusdem patris potestate sunt testes TESTIBUS utrique in eodem testamento uel eodem negotio fieri possunt, quoniam nihil nocet ex una domo plures testes alieno negotio adhiberi.
[ULPIANUS, in his single book of Rules.] A father and the son who is in his power, likewise two brothers who are in the power of the same father, can both become witnesses in the same will or the same transaction, since there is no objection to several witnesses from one household being employed in another person's transaction.

Notes

  1. §22.5.17.prtestes TESTIBUS utrique — The juxtaposition of "testes" (nominative) and "TESTIBUS" (dative/ablative) in the manuscript tradition is likely a dittography or a conflation of variant readings. Grammatically, "testes" (along with "utrique") functions correctly as the predicate nominative agreeing with the subjects for "fieri possunt" ("can become"), and the capitalized "TESTIBUS" is disregarded in translation.
  2. §22.5.17.prnihil nocet ex una domo plures testes alieno negotio adhiberi — "nihil nocet" is an impersonal expression meaning "it does no harm" or "there is no objection," which takes the accusative and infinitive clause "plures testes... adhiberi" as its subject. The dative "alieno negotio" modifies "adhiberi," expressing reference or purpose ("for another person's transaction").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §22.5.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:22.5.17.pr

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