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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.3.34.pr

Eviction of Mother's Goods Given by Father as Dowry

Passage 3408 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that if a father gives gold, which a mother had lent to her daughter, as a dowry and the mother subsequently dies, the gold remains the property of the mother's heir, the dowry is reduced accordingly, and the husband has an action against his father-in-law.

[IDEM libro trigesimo tertio ad Sabinum. ] §23.3.34.prMater cum filiae aurum dedisset utendum, pater puellae id aurum in dotem uiro adpendit: dein mortua est mater.
[THE SAME in the thirty-third book on Sabinus.] A mother had given gold to her daughter for her use, and the girl's father weighed out and delivered that gold to her husband as a dowry; subsequently, the mother died.
si inscia inuitaue uxore uir id aurum in dotem dedisset, manet id aurum heredis matris uindicarique potest et eo minorem dotem uiro datam esse placuit: quia res euicta est, marito competit aduersus socerum actio.
If the husband had given that gold as a dowry without the knowledge or against the will of his wife, that gold remains the property of the mother's heir and can be vindicated, and it has been held that a dowry smaller by that amount was given to the husband; because the property was evicted, the husband has an action against his father-in-law.

Notes

  1. §23.3.34.prutendum — The neuter accusative singular of the gerundive, modifying the object aurum ("gold") of the verb dedisset ("had given"), expressing purpose ("for use").
  2. §23.3.34.pruir — In this context, uir ("husband") refers to the girl's father (pater puellae) rather than the daughter's husband (referred to as uiro just before), and uxore ("wife") refers to the mother. It describes a situation where the father, without his wife's (the mother's) knowledge or consent, disposed of the gold which was only lent to the daughter for use.
  3. §23.3.34.preo — The neuter ablative singular of the demonstrative pronoun is, functioning as an ablative of measure of difference modifying the comparative minorem ("smaller"). It means "by that much," indicating that the dowry is reduced by the value of the recovered gold.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.3.34.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.3.34.pr

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