Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §22.5.18.pr

Eligibility of Women to Testify under the Julian Law

Passage 3271 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text explains that since the Julian law on adultery forbids a convicted woman from testifying, it is inferred that women generally have the right to give evidence in court.

[PAULUS libro secundo de adulteriis. ] §22.5.18.prEx eo, quod prohibet lex Iulia de adulteriis testimonium dicere condemnatam mulierem, colligitur etiam mulieres testimonii in iudicio dicendi ius habere.
[PAULUS, in his second book on Adultery.] From the fact that the Julia law on adultery forbids a convicted woman to give evidence, it is inferred that women also have the right to give evidence in court.

Notes

  1. §22.5.18.prEx eo, quod — The pronoun `eo` (ablative) is in apposition with the noun clause introduced by `quod`, meaning "from the fact that...". It indicates the ground for the main verb `colligitur`.
  2. §22.5.18.prcondemnatam mulierem — The subject accusative of the infinitive `testimonium dicere` within the accusative-with-infinitive (A.C.I.) construction dependent on the verb `prohibet`. The perfect participle `condemnatam` modifies `mulierem`, referring to "a convicted woman."
  3. §22.5.18.prtestimonii in iudicio dicendi ius — A gerundive construction in the genitive modifying `ius` (right). The transitive phrase `testimonium dicere` is put into the gerundive, where the object becomes the genitive `testimonii` and the gerundive `dicendi` agrees with it in gender, number, and case.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §22.5.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:22.5.18.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.