Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.4.1.pr-23.4.1.1

Agreements Post-Marriage and Parties to Dowry Restitution

Passage 3460 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the validity of agreements made after marriage and the necessity for all relevant parties to be involved in agreements concerning the return of a dowry.

[IAUOLENUS libro quarto ex Cassio. ] §23.4.1.prPacisci post nuptias, etiamsi nihil ante conuenerit, licet.
[IAVOLENUS from the fourth book of Cassius.] It is permitted to make an agreement after marriage, even if nothing was agreed upon beforehand.
§23.4.1.1Pacta quae de reddenda dote fiunt, inter omnes fieri oportet, qui repetere dotem et a quibus repeti potest, ne ei, qui non interfuit, apud arbitrum cognoscentem pactum non prosit.
Agreements which are made concerning the return of a dowry ought to be made among all those who can demand the return of the dowry and from whom its return can be demanded, so that the agreement may not fail to benefit him who was not a party to it before the arbitrator hearing the case.

Notes

  1. 23.4.1.1potest — The verb potest is in the third-person singular, following the relative pronouns qui (treated here as singular) and a quibus (plural). This mismatch may be explained by treating the preceding plural omnes individually ('everyone who...'), or by the attraction of the verb to the closer passive construction (repeti potest).
  2. 23.4.1.1ne ... non prosit — The double negation created by the conjunction ne and the negative particle non functions as an affirmative purpose clause, meaning 'so that it may benefit (him)'.
  3. 23.4.1.1cognoscentem — The present participle cognoscentem (accusative masculine singular) modifies arbitrum. In legal contexts, the verb cognoscere has the technical meaning of 'to hear a case', 'to investigate', or 'to take judicial notice'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.4.1.pr-23.4.1.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.4.1.pr-23.4.1.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.