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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.3.75.pr

Wife's Ownership of Dowry and Actions on Eviction

Passage 3449 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Tryfoninus discusses the principle that a dowry ultimately belongs to the woman despite being formally within the husband's property, explaining her right to sue immediately if an unvalued estate is evicted, and her power over its profits during marriage.

[TRYFONINUS libro sexto disputationum. ] §23.3.75.prQuamuis in bonis mariti dos sit, mulieris tamen est, et merito placuit, ut, si in dotem fundum inaestimatum dedit, cuius nomine duplae stipulatione cautum habuit, isque marito euictus sit, statim eam ex stipulatione agere posse.
[TRYFONINUS in the sixth book of Disputations.] Although a dowry is among the assets of the husband, it nevertheless belongs to the woman; and it was rightly approved that, if she gave an unvalued estate as a dowry, in respect of which she held security by a stipulation for double value, and this was evicted from the husband, she can immediately bring an action on the stipulation.
porro cuius interest non esse euictum quod in dote fuit quodque ipsa euictionem pati creditur ob id, quod eum in dotem habere desiit, huius etiam constante matrimonio, quamuis apud maritum dominium sit, emolumenti potestatem esse creditur, cuius etiam matrimonii onera maritus sustinet.
Furthermore, of her whose interest it is that what was in the dowry should not be evicted, and because she herself is believed to suffer the eviction for the reason that she has ceased to have it in her dowry, hers, even while the marriage lasts, although the ownership is with the husband, is believed to be the power over the profit—the burdens of which marriage the husband also bears.

Notes

  1. §23.3.75.prmerito placuit, ut... agere posse — The clause introduced by `ut` as the subject of the impersonal `placuit` irregularly contains an accusative and infinitive construction (`eam ... agere posse`) instead of the expected subjunctive. This represents a syntactic blending (anacoluthon) common in late or juristic Latin.
  2. §23.3.75.prcuius interest... quodque ipsa... huius... — The syntactic connection between the relative/causal clauses and the main clause is complex. The genitive relative pronoun `cuius` (the person interested, with the impersonal `interest`) and the causal clause `quodque ipsa...` (and because she herself...) both modify or define the demonstrative genitive `huius` in the main clause. This `huius` functions as a possessive genitive with `potestatem [emolumenti] esse [creditur]`.
  3. §23.3.75.prmarito — Dative of disadvantage (dativus incommodi) or dative of agent with the passive verb `euictus sit`, meaning "evicted from the husband" (to his disadvantage).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.3.75.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.3.75.pr

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