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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §23.4.27.pr

Invalidity of Dowry Waiver as a Disguised Reconciliation

Passage 3486 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It states that if a wife returns after a quarrel and agrees to have no dowry, such an agreement, being a disguised reconciliation, must be disapproved by morals under the circumstances.

[IDEM libro primo definitionum. ] §23.4.27.prSi liberis sublatis reuersa post iurgium per dissimulationem mulier ueluti uenali concordio ne dotata sit conueniat, conuentio secundum ordinem rei gestae moribus improbanda est.
[THE SAME, from the first book of Definitions.] If a woman, having returned after a quarrel after children have been born, should agree through dissimulation, as if by a bought reconciliation, that she should not be endowed, the agreement must be disapproved by morals according to the sequence of the transaction.

Notes

  1. §23.4.27.prliberis sublatis — Ablative absolute, literally "children having been raised." In Roman custom, "tollere liberos" (to lift up children from the ground) signifies the father's acknowledgment and commitment to raise the newborn children.
  2. §23.4.27.prne dotata sit conueniat — The verb conueniat (present subjunctive, 3rd person singular, in the si-clause) takes a noun clause introduced by ne ("lest" or "that... not"), meaning "she should agree that she should not be endowed (i.e., that she should have no dowry)."
  3. §23.4.27.prmoribus improbanda est — Meaning "must be disapproved by customs/morals." In Roman law, agreements or contracts that violate social moral standards (mores) are deemed legally invalid or subject to unfavorable treatment.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §23.4.27.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:23.4.27.pr

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