Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §25.1.15.pr

Ordinary Maintenance of Dowry and Deductible Necessary Expenses

Passage 3674 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Neratius argues regarding the deduction of necessary expenses on dowry that a distinction must be made between the husband's self-funded daily 'maintenance' and deductible 'expenses beyond maintenance', noting that individual assessment is required rather than a general definition.

[NERATIUS libro secundo membranarum. ] §25.1.15.prQuod dicitur impensas, quae in res dotales necessario factae sunt, dotem deminuere, ita interpretandum est, ut, si quid extra tutelam necessariam in res dotales impensum est, id in ea causa sit: nam tueri res dotales uir suo sumptu debet.
[NERATIUS, Parchments, Book 2] As for the saying that expenses which have been necessarily made on dotal property diminish the dowry, it must be interpreted in such a way that, if any expense has been made on dotal property beyond necessary maintenance, it is in that category; for a husband ought to maintain dotal property at his own expense.
alioquin tam cibaria dotalibus mancipiis data et quaeuis modica aedificiorum dotalium refectio et agrorum quoque cultura dotem minuent: omnia enim haec in specie necessariarum inpensarum sunt.
Otherwise, both the food given to dotal slaves and any moderate repair of dotal buildings and also the cultivation of fields will diminish the dowry; for all these are in the category of necessary expenses.
sed ipsae res ita praestare intelleguntur, ut non tam inpendas in eas, quam deducto eo minus ex his percepisse uidearis.
But the things themselves are understood to yield in such a way that you do not so much seem to have expended on them, as to have received less from them by that amount being deducted.
quae autem impendia secundum eam distinctionem ex dote deduci debeant, non tam facile in uniuersum definiri, quam per singula ex genere et magnitudine inpendiorum aestimari possunt.
What expenses, however, ought to be deducted from the dowry according to this distinction cannot be so easily defined in general as they can be estimated in detail based on the nature and magnitude of the expenses.

Notes

  1. §25.1.15.prQuod dicitur — Quod introduces a clause of respect ('As to the saying that...'), in which the accusative with infinitive impensas... dotem deminuere serves as the subject of the impersonal passive dicitur.
  2. §25.1.15.prita praestare intelleguntur — praestare is used here in an intransitive sense meaning 'to provide (value/yield) or perform'. The subsequent consecutive ut clause explains that the husband is not considered to 'have expended (inpendas)' on them as a separate investment, but rather, through the ablative absolute deducto eo ('that being deducted'), to have 'received less (minus... percepisse)' from the yield of the dowry itself.
  3. §25.1.15.prnon tam facile in uniuersum definiri, quam — After definiri, a potential auxiliary like potest (or possunt agreeing with impendia) is omitted. The non tam A quam B construction contrasts the difficulty of defining the matter generally (A) with the viability of assessing it case by case (B).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §25.1.15.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:25.1.15.pr

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.