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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.2.5.pr

Marriage in Absence and Leading Bride into Groom's House

Passage 3311 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the requirement of leading the wife into the husband's house for marriage, stating that a woman can marry an absent man if she is led into his house, but an absent woman cannot be married in this manner.

[IDEM libro quarto ad Sabinum. ] §23.2.5.prMulierem absenti per litteras eius uel per nuntium posse nubere placet, si in domum eius deduceretur: eam uero quae abesset ex litteris uel nuntio suo duci a marito non posse: deductione enim opus esse in mariti, non in uxoris domum, quasi in domicilium matrimonii.
[THE SAME in the fourth book on Sabinus.] It is accepted that a woman can marry an absent man by means of his letter or messenger, provided that she is led into his house; but that a woman who is absent cannot be married by her husband through her own letter or messenger. For there is need of leading into the husband's house, not into the wife's, as if into the domicile of the marriage.

Notes

  1. §23.2.5.prabsenti / duci — While the verb nubere (to marry, said of a woman) governs the dative (absenti), the action of the husband is expressed by ducere (to lead/marry, governing the accusative), used here in the passive duci a marito (to be married/led by the husband). This syntactic asymmetry reflects the Roman legal concept that marriage is established by leading the wife into the husband's house (deductio).
  2. §23.2.5.prdeductione ... opus esse — The impersonal expression opus est (there is need of) requires the ablative, hence deductione is in the ablative case. Since the entire clause is in indirect speech dependent on placet, the verb is in the infinitive esse.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.2.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.2.5.pr

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