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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §24.2.6.pr

Spousal Captivity and Remarriage in Case of Uncertainty

Passage 3585 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section outlines the rules for the continuation or dissolution of marriage when a spouse is captured by the enemy, detailing the conditions for remarriage in cases of uncertain survival.

[IULIANUS libro sexagesimo secundo digestorum. ] §24.2.6.prUxores eorum, qui in hostium potestate peruenerunt, possunt uideri nuptarum locum retinere eo solo, quod alii temere nubere non possunt.
[JULIAN, in the sixty-second book of the Digests.] The wives of those who have fallen into the power of the enemy can be seen to retain the status of married women solely on the ground that they cannot rashly marry another.
et generaliter definiendum est, donec certum est maritum uiuere in captiuitate constitutum, nullam habere licentiam uxores eorum migrare ad aliud matrimonium, nisi mallent ipsae mulieres causam repudii praestare.
And it must be laid down as a general rule that, so long as it is certain that the husband is alive in captivity, their wives have no permission to pass to another marriage, unless the women themselves prefer to provide a cause for divorce.
sin autem in incerto est, an uiuus apud hostes teneatur uel morte praeuentus, tunc, si quinquennium a tempore captiuitatis excesserit, licentiam habet mulier ad alias migrare nuptias, ita tamen, ut bona gratia dissolutum uideatur pristinum matrimonium et unusquisque suum ius habeat imminutum: eodem iure et in marito in ciuitate degente et uxore captiua obseruando.
But if it is uncertain whether he is held alive among the enemy or has been overtaken by death, then, if five years have elapsed from the time of captivity, the woman has permission to pass to another marriage, provided, however, that the former marriage is seen to be dissolved amicably and each party has their rights unimpaired. The same rule is to be observed also in the case of a husband residing in the city and a captive wife.

Notes

  1. §24.2.6.preo solo, quod — Meaning "solely on the ground that" or "by the sole fact that." The ablative demonstrative pronoun `eo` is followed by an appositional `quod` clause (with the indicative `possunt`) explaining its content.
  2. §24.2.6.prdonec certum est — The conjunction `donec` takes the present indicative `est` to mean "so long as" (duration). It modifies the accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction `nullam habere licentiam` which depends on the impersonal main verb `definiendum est`.
  3. §24.2.6.primminutum — While it could be parsed as the perfect participle of `imminuere` ("diminished"), in this legal context it is interpreted as a compound of the privative prefix `in-` and `minutus` ("diminished"), meaning "unimpaired" or "undiminished."
  4. §24.2.6.preodem iure ... obseruando — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun `iure` and the gerundive (future passive participle) `obseruando`. It carries a sense of necessity or obligation: "the same rule is to be observed..."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §24.2.6.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:24.2.6.pr

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