Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §24.3.4.pr

Redelivery of Dowry Without Consent and Plea of Fraud

Passage 3594 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that if a father, without his daughter's consent, exacts the dowry from her former husband and gives it to her new husband, the daughter's subsequent claim against the former husband after the father's death will be barred by the exception of doli mali.

[POMPONIUS libro quinto decimo ad Sabinum. ] §24.3.4.prSi pater sine consensu filiae dotem a uiro exegisset et eandem alii uiro eius filiae nomine dedisset et mortuo patre filia cum priore uiro ageret, doli mali exceptione repellitur.
If a father, without the consent of his daughter, had exacted the dowry from her husband and had given the same to another husband in the name of that daughter, and, the father having died, the daughter should bring an action against her former husband, she is repelled by the exception of doli mali.

Notes

  1. §24.3.4.prexegisset... dedisset... ageret... repellitur — On the mixture of tenses in the conditional clause (si-clause). The past facts already completed (exegisset, dedisset: subjunctive pluperfect) are combined with a hypothetical action in the present or a continuing state (ageret: subjunctive imperfect), and the legal consequence is declared in the indicative present (repellitur) in the main clause.
  2. §24.3.4.prdoli mali exceptione — An ablative phrase of means. It refers to the legal remedy 'exceptio doli mali' (plea of fraud or bad faith), which protects the defendant (the former husband) when the plaintiff (the daughter), although formally possessing a right to demand the return of the dowry, exercises it in a manner contrary to good faith (bona fides).
  3. §24.3.4.prcum priore uiro ageret — The verb agere is used in its procedural sense meaning 'to bring an action' or 'to sue'. The preposition cum (with the ablative priore uiro) means 'against' or 'with ... as the opposing party'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §24.3.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:24.3.4.pr

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