Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.3.68.pr

Validity of Dowry Promise Upon Subsequent Marriage

Passage 3442 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinian explains that even if a marriage is not immediately valid due to a lack of paternal consent or the bride's underage status, a subsequent consent or reaching the legal age validates the promise of a dowry under a tacit condition, and he defines the scope of the rule concerning dowry promises for first marriages.

[PAPINIANUS libro decimo quaestionum. ] §23.3.68.prDotis promissio non ideo minus ualebit, quod ignorante initio patre nuptiae non fuerint, si postea consenserit, cum omnis dotis promissio futuri matrimonii tacitam condicionem accipiat.
[PAPINIANUS in the tenth book of Questions.] A promise of a dowry will not have the less force because, since the father was ignorant of it at the beginning, there was no marriage, if he afterwards consents, since every promise of a dowry accepts the tacit condition of a future marriage.
nam et si minor annis duodecim ut maior deducta sit, tunc primum petetur, cum maior annis apud eundem esse coeperit: quod enim uolgatum est dotis promissionem in primis dumtaxat nuptiis destinare neque durare obligationem, si post alterius matrimonium ei nubat cui dotem promiserat, tunc locum habet, cum intercesserunt aliae nuptiae.
For even if a girl under twelve years of age has been led [to the husband's house] as if she were of age, the dowry will then first be claimed when she, being of age, begins to be with the same man; for the common rule that "a promise of a dowry is destined only for the first marriage, and the obligation does not endure if, after a marriage with another, she marries him to whom she had promised the dowry," has place only when other nuptials have intervened.

Notes

  1. §23.3.68.prignorante initio patre — Ablative absolute, explaining the situation where the marriage did not legally take place initially due to the lack of consent from the father (pater familias).
  2. §23.3.68.prminor annis duodecim ut maior — The comparative adjective phrase minor ('under twelve years of age') is contrasted with ut maior ('as if she were of age'). Under Roman law, the marriageable age for females was twelve, and a cohabitation before this age became a valid marriage only when she reached that age.
  3. §23.3.68.prquod enim uolgatum est ... tunc locum habet — The conjunction quod introduces a noun clause ('the fact/rule that...') which serves as the subject of the main verb locum habet. Inside this clause, the accusative with infinitive construction (dotis promissionem ... destinare neque durare obligationem) is employed.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.3.68.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.3.68.pr

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