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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.3.80.pr

Promise of Dowry by Debtor and Demand before Marriage

Passage 3454 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Labeo argues that a woman can demand debt payment before marriage even after the debtor promises it as a dowry to her fiancé, but Javolenus refutes this, stating that the promise remains in abeyance.

[IAUOLENUS libro sexto ex posterioribus Labeonis. ] §23.3.80.prSi debitor mulieris dotem sponso promiserit, posse mulierem ante nuptias a debitore eam pecuniam petere neque eo nomine postea debitorem uiro obligatum futurum ait Labeo.
[JAVOLENUS in the sixth book of Labeo’s Epitomes.] Labeo says that if a debtor of a woman has promised a dowry to her fiancé, the woman can demand that money from the debtor before the marriage, and the debtor will not afterwards be obligated to the husband under that heading.
falsum est, quia ea promissio in pendenti esset, donec obligatio in ea causa est.
This is incorrect, because that promise would remain in abeyance as long as the obligation is in that condition.

Notes

  1. §23.3.80.prposse mulierem... futurum ait Labeo — An indirect speech (accusative with infinitive construction) governed by the main clause ait Labeo (Labeo says). It consists of two coordinated infinitive clauses: posse (with its accusative subject mulierem) and futurum [esse] (with its accusative subject debitorem).
  2. §23.3.80.prin pendenti esset — The imperfect subjunctive esset expresses a hypothetical consequence or a state of potentiality in refutation of Labeo's view. The idiom in pendenti (using the substantivized neuter genitive) refers to an unsettled or suspended legal status in which the outcome depends on a future condition.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.3.80.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.3.80.pr

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