Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §24.1.21.pr-24.1.21.1

Payment of Travel Expenses and Waiver of Dowry Interest

Passage 3531 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian discusses whether the payment of tolls or travel expenses between spouses, and the claim for or waiver of interest on a dowry, constitute prohibited donations, concluding that necessary expenses and set-off amounts are valid.

[ULPIANUS libro trigesimo secundo ad Sabinum. ] §24.1.21.prSi quis pro uxore sua uectigal, quod in itinere praestari solet, soluisset, an quasi locupletiore ea facta exactio fiat, an uero nulla sit donatio? et magis puto non interdictum hoc, maxime si ipsius causa profecta est.
[ULPIANUS libro trigesimo secundo ad Sabinum.] If anyone has paid for his wife a toll, which is customarily paid on a journey, whether recovery is to be made on the ground of her having been made richer, or indeed is there no donation? and I rather think that this is not prohibited, especially if she set out for his sake.
nam et Papinianus libro quarto responsorum scripsit uecturas uxoris et ministeriorum eius uirum itineris sui causa datas repetere non posse: iter autem fuisse uidetur uiri causa et cum uxor ad uirum peruenit.
For Papinian also wrote in the fourth book of his Opinions that a husband cannot recover the travel expenses of his wife and her servants paid for the sake of his own journey: and the journey is also deemed to have been for the husband's sake when the wife comes to the husband.
nec interesse, an aliquid de uecturis in contrahendo matrimonio conuenerit: non enim donat, qui necessariis oneribus succurrit, ergo et si consensu mariti profecta est mulier propter suas necessarias causas et aliquid maritus expensarum nomine ei praestiterit, hoc reuocandum non est.
And it makes no difference whether any agreement was made regarding travel expenses upon contracting the marriage: for he who relieves necessary burdens does not make a donation; therefore, even if the wife set out with the consent of her husband for her own necessary reasons, and the husband paid her something under the name of expenses, this is not to be revoked.
§24.1.21.1Si uxor uiro dotem promiserit et dotis usuras, sine dubio dicendum est peti usuras posse, quia non est ista donatio, cum pro oneribus matrimonii petantur.
If a wife has promised her husband a dowry and interest on the dowry, it must be said without doubt that the interest can be claimed, because that is not a donation, since they are claimed for the burdens of marriage.
quid tamen, si maritus uxori petitionem earum remiserit? eadem erit quaestio, an donatio sit illicita: et Iulianus hoc diceret: quod uerum est.
What, however, if the husband has released to his wife the claim for them? There will be the same question, whether it is an illicit donation; and Julian would say this, which is true.
plane si conuenerat, uti se mulier pasceret suosque homines idcirco passus est eam dote sua frui, ut se suosque aleret, expeditum erit: puto enim non posse ab ea peti quasi donatum, quod compensatum est.
Clearly, if it had been agreed that the wife should maintain herself and her people, and for that reason he allowed her to enjoy her dowry so that she might support herself and her people, the matter will be straightforward: for I think that what has been set off cannot be claimed from her as if it were a donation.

Notes

  1. 24.1.21.prexactio fiat — The contrast between the recovery based on her enrichment (exactio ... locupletior facta) and the absence of donation (nulla donatio). In Roman law, donations between spouses are void and subject to recovery only to the extent that the recipient remains enriched. Conversely, necessary expenses do not constitute a donation and thus generate no recovery claim.
  2. 24.1.21.pripsius — The genitive pronoun `ipsius` refers to the husband (`vir` or `maritus`) who made the payment. This is parallel to the subsequent reference to the husband's own journey (`itineris sui causa` or `uiri causa`) cited from Papinian.
  3. 24.1.21.1et Iulianus hoc diceret: quod uerum est — The imperfect subjunctive `diceret` expresses a hypothetical opinion: Julian would say (if he were here) that the waiver is an illicit donation. `hoc` refers to the affirmative answer to the preceding question `an donatio sit illicita`.
  4. 24.1.21.1passus est eam dote sua frui — An accusative with infinitive construction (`eam... frui`) serves as the object of `passus est` ('he allowed'). The infinitive `frui` governs the ablative case, hence its complement `dote sua` is in the ablative.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §24.1.21.pr-24.1.21.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:24.1.21.pr-24.1.21.1

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.