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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.4.16.pr

Invalidity of Postponing the Dowry Return Date

Passage 3475 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus states that an agreement to pay the dowry on a later date cannot be valid, just as an agreement not to return it at all is invalid.

[PAULUS libro trigesimo quinto ad edictum. ] §23.4.16.prut autem longiore die soluatur dos, conuenire non potest, non magis quam ne omnino reddatur.
[PAULUS from the thirty-fifth book on the Edict.] However, it cannot be agreed that the dowry be paid on a later day, any more than that it not be returned at all.

Notes

  1. 23.4.16.prut... soluatur dos — An ut-clause containing the subjunctive present passive 'soluatur'. It functions as the substantive subject (or a noun clause expressing the content of the agreement) of the impersonal expression 'conuenire potest' (it can be agreed). The subsequent 'ne omnino reddatur' likewise depends on 'conuenire non potest'.
  2. 23.4.16.prnon magis quam — A comparative expression equating two negations, meaning 'no more than' or 'just as... not'. It emphasizes the impossibility of the first agreement (to pay on a later day) by putting it on the same level of legal invalidity as the self-evident invalidity of the second agreement (not to return the dowry at all).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.4.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.4.16.pr

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