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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.3.56.pr-23.3.56.3

Risk in Dowry, Marital Burdens, and Expense Deductions

Passage 3430 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the allocation of risk if a slave to be delivered as a dowry dies before performance, the correlation between marriage burdens and dotal assets, and the legal consequences and restoration of dotal status when necessary expenses are deducted from dotal land.

[IDEM libro sexto ad Plautium. ] §23.3.56.prSi is qui Stichum mulieri debet in dotem delegatus sit et antequam solueret debitor, Stichus decesserit, cum neque per debitorem stetisset quo minus solueret, neque maritus in agendo moram fecisset: periculo mulieris Stichus morietur: quamquam etiamsi moram maritus fecerit in exigendo, si tamen etiam apud maritum moriturus Stichus fuerit, actione dotis maritus non teneatur.
[THE SAME in the sixth book on Plautius.] If a person who owes Stichus to a woman has been delegated as dowry, and before the debtor makes payment, Stichus dies, since it had neither been through the debtor's fault that he did not pay, nor had the husband caused delay in bringing action: Stichus will die at the risk of the woman. Although, even if the husband has caused delay in demanding, yet if Stichus would have died even while with the husband, the husband shall not be held liable under the dowry action.
§23.3.56.1Ibi dos esse debet, ubi onera matrimonii sunt.
The dowry ought to be where the burdens of marriage are.
§23.3.56.2Post mortem patris statim onera matrimonii filium sequuntur, sicut liberi, sicut uxor.
Immediately after the death of the father, the burdens of marriage follow the son, just as the children and the wife do.
§23.3.56.3Quod dicitur necessarias impensas ipso iure dotem minuere, non eo pertinet, ut, si forte fundus in dote sit, desinat aliqua ex parte dotalis esse, sed, nisi impensa reddatur, aut pars fundi aut totus retineatur.
What is said, that necessary expenses diminish the dowry by operation of law, does not mean that, if by chance a tract of land is in the dowry, it ceases in any part to be dotal, but that, unless the expense is refunded, either a part of the land or the whole of it may be retained.
sed si tantum in fundum dotalem impensum sit per partes, quanti fundus est, desinere eum dotalem esse Scaeuola noster dicebat, nisi mulier sponte marito intra annum impensas obtulerit.
But if there has been expended on the dotal land by installments an amount equal to the value of the land, our Scaeuola used to say that it ceases to be dotal, unless the woman of her own accord offers the expenses to her husband within a year.
si pecunia et fundus in dote sint et necessariae impensae in fundum factae, Nerua ait dotem pecuniariam minui.
If money and land are in the dowry and necessary expenses have been made on the land, Nerva says that the pecuniary dowry is diminished.
quid ergo si mulier impensas marito soluerit, utrum crescet dos an ex integro data uidebitur? cuius rei manifestior iniquitas in fundo est secundum Scaeuolae nostri sententiam: nam si desinit dotalis esse, poterit alienari: rursus quemadmodum poterit fieri dotalis data pecunia? an iam pecunia in dote esse uidebitur? et magis est, ut ager in causam dotis reuertatur, sed interim alienatio fundi inhibeatur.
What then if the woman pays the expenses to her husband, will the dowry increase, or will it be deemed to have been given anew from the beginning? The unfairness of this matter is more manifest in the case of land according to the opinion of our Scaeuola: for if it ceases to be dotal, it can be alienated; on the other hand, how can it become dotal by the payment of money? Or will the money now be deemed to be in the dowry? And it is more reasonable that the land should return to the status of dowry, but in the meantime the alienation of the land should be prohibited.

Notes

  1. §23.3.56.prcum neque per debitorem stetisset quo minus solueret — The idiom `per aliquem stat quo minus` followed by the subjunctive means "it is due to someone that ... not" or "someone prevents ... from." Here, accompanied by the negative `neque`, it signifies that the failure to perform was not due to the debtor's fault.
  2. §23.3.56.prsi tamen etiam apud maritum moriturus Stichus fuerit — The combination of the future participle `moriturus` and the auxiliary `fuerit` (perfect subjunctive) represents a past contrary-to-fact potentiality ("if Stichus would have died anyway even if he had been with the husband"). It functions as a conditional clause modifying the main clause's present subjunctive `non teneatur`.
  3. §23.3.56.3Quod dicitur necessarias impensas ipso iure dotem minuere — `Quod dicitur` introduces a restrictive or expository clause ("as to what is said"), which brings in the infinitive phrase `necessarias impensas ... minuere` as its subject matter, leading to the main clause `non eo pertinet, ut...` ("it does not tend to this, that...").
  4. §23.3.56.3et magis est, ut ager in causam dotis reuertatur — The impersonal expression `magis est, ut...` means "it is more preferable/reasonable that..." and governs the subjunctive verbs `reuertatur` and `inhibeatur`. It expresses a legal judgment on what is more equitable regarding the reimbursement and disposition of the land.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.3.56.pr-23.3.56.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.3.56.pr-23.3.56.3

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