Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.2.56.pr

Incest through keeping a freed niece as a concubine

Passage 3362 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It is stated that even if a sister's daughter is a freedwoman, keeping her as a concubine constitutes the crime of incest.

[ULPIANUS libro tertio disputationum. ] §23.2.56.prEtiam si concubinam quis habuerit sororis filiam, licet libertinam, incestum committitur.
[ULPIAN, in the third book of his Disputations.] Even if someone has had his sister's daughter as a concubine, even though she be a freedwoman, incest is committed.

Notes

  1. §23.2.56.prconcubinam ... habuerit sororis filiam — sororis filiam (the sister's daughter) is the direct object of the verb habuerit, and concubinam functions as its predicative accusative (object complement), forming a construction similar to a double accusative meaning 'to have one's sister's daughter as a concubine'.
  2. §23.2.56.prlicet libertinam — licet is used here as a concessive conjunction ('although', 'even if'), and the accusative noun libertinam (freedwoman) agrees in gender, number, and case with sororis filiam, which is the object of the preceding verb habuerit.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.2.56.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.2.56.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.