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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.2.19.pr

Compelling Parents Who Unjustly Obstruct Marriage

Passage 3325 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains the provisions whereby parents who unlawfully prevent their dependent children from marrying or refuse to provide a dowry can be compelled by provincial governors to facilitate the marriage and grant the dowry.

[MARCIANUS libro sexto decimo institutionum. ] §23.2.19.prCapite trigesimo quinto legis Iuliae qui liberos quos habent in potestate iniuria prohibuerint ducere uxores uel nubere, uel qui dotem dare non uolunt ex constitutione diuorum Seueri et Antonini, per proconsules praesidesque prouinciarum coguntur in matrimonium collocare et dotare.
[MARCIANUS in the sixteenth book of the Institutes.] Under the thirty-fifth chapter of the Lex Julia, those who unlawfully prevent the children whom they have under their power from taking wives or marrying, or who, according to the constitution of the divine Severus and Antoninus, are unwilling to give a dowry, are compelled by the proconsuls and governors of provinces to marry them off and provide a dowry.
prohibere autem uidetur et qui condicionem non quaerit.
Moreover, one who does not seek a match is also deemed to prevent them.

Notes

  1. §23.2.19.prCapite trigesimo quinto legis Iuliae — Ablative of place or means, meaning "in the thirty-fifth chapter of the Lex Julia." This refers to the Lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus enacted under Augustus.
  2. §23.2.19.priniuria — Ablative used adverbially, meaning "unlawfully" or "unjustly." It indicates a situation where the parent has no legally or morally justifiable reason to refuse consent to the child's marriage.
  3. §23.2.19.prcoguntur in matrimonium collocare et dotare — The subject of the main verb `coguntur` ("they are compelled") is the "parents" implied as the antecedent of the relative clause `qui...`. Both `in matrimonium collocare` ("to place in marriage") and `dotare` ("to provide a dowry") are complementary infinitives depending on `coguntur`.
  4. §23.2.19.prcondicionem — Although it usually means "condition," in the context of marriage it refers to a "match," "marriage connection," or "prospective spouse." Therefore, the passive failure to seek a suitable match is treated as equivalent to actively preventing the marriage.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.2.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.2.19.pr

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