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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.2.38.pr-23.2.38.2

Prohibition of Provincial Magistrates Marrying Local Women

Passage 3344 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the prohibition of a provincial administrator marrying a local woman, the regulation on her pulling out of a betrothal, and the exceptions for marrying a former betrothed and marrying off his own daughters.

[IDEM libro secundo sententiarum. ] §23.2.38.prSi quis officium in aliqua prouincia administrat, inde oriundam uel ibi domicilium habentem uxorem ducere non potest, quamuis sponsare non prohibeatur, ita scilicet, ut, si post officium depositum noluerit mulier nuptias contrahere, liceat ei hoc facere arris tantummodo redditis quas acceperat.
[THE SAME, in the second book of Sentences.] If anyone administers an office in any province, he cannot marry a woman who originates from there or has her domicile there, although he is not prohibited from betrothing her; provided, of course, that if, after the office has been laid down, the woman should not wish to contract the marriage, she shall be permitted to do this upon merely returning the earnest money which she had received.
§23.2.38.1Ueterem sponsam in prouincia, qua quis administrat, uxorem ducere potest et dos data non fit caduca.
A man can marry his former betrothed in the province in which he administers, and the dowry given does not become forfeit.
§23.2.38.2Qui in prouincia aliquid administrat, in ea prouincia filias suas in matrimonium collocare et dotem constituere non prohibetur.
He who administers any office in a province is not prohibited from giving his daughters in marriage and establishing a dowry in that province.

Notes

  1. §23.2.38.prpost officium depositum — A noun combined with a perfect passive participle (the so-called ab urbe condita construction) expressing the event itself, meaning 'after the office has been laid down'.
  2. §23.2.38.prarris tantummodo redditis quas acceperat — The phrase arris redditis is an ablative absolute. Although unilateral breach of betrothal normally incurred penalties (such as returning double the earnest money), here the woman is allowed to back out merely (tantummodo) by returning the actual earnest money (arrae) she had received.
  3. §23.2.38.1in prouincia, qua quis administrat — The relative pronoun qua is feminine ablative singular, agreeing with the antecedent prouincia. It functions without the preposition in (or adverbially) to mean 'in which [province] someone administers'.
  4. §23.2.38.1dos data non fit caduca — The word caduca is the feminine nominative singular of the adjective caducus ('forfeited', 'vacant'), functioning as the complement of fit. While forbidden marriages typically resulted in the forfeiture of the dowry as a legal penalty, this sanction does not apply in the case of a former betrothed.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.2.38.pr-23.2.38.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.2.38.pr-23.2.38.2

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