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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §25.7.3.pr-25.7.3.1

Status of a Concubine and Exemption from Adultery

Passage 3726 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Marcianus explains the status of women who can enter into concubinage, noting that a declaration is required for respectable women. He also states that concubinage is exempt from legal penalties for adultery since it is recognized by law.

[MARCIANUS libro duodecimo institutionum. ] §25.7.3.prIn concubinatu potest esse et aliena liberta et ingenua et maxime ea quae obscuro loco nata est uel quaestum corpore fecit.
[MARCIANUS, Institutes, Book 12] Both another's freedwoman and a freeborn woman can be in concubinage, and especially she who was born of obscure origin or who made a living with her body.
alioquin si honestae uitae et ingenuam mulierem in concubinatum habere maluerit, sine testatione hoc manifestum faciente non conceditur.
Otherwise, if one prefers to have a woman of honest life and freeborn in concubinage, it is not permitted without a declaration making this manifest.
sed necesse est ei uel uxorem eam habere uel hoc recusantem stuprum cum ea committere:
But it is necessary for him either to have her as a wife, or, if he refuses this, to commit stuprum with her.
§25.7.3.1Nec adulterium per concubinatum ab ipso committitur.
Nor is adultery committed by him through concubinage.
nam quia concubinatus per leges nomen assumpsit, extra legis poenam est, ut et Marcellus libro septimo digestorum scripsit.
For since concubinage has assumed its name through the laws, it is outside the penalty of the law, as Marcellus also wrote in the seventh book of the Digests.

Notes

  1. 25.7.3.prhonestae uitae — Genitive of quality. It modifies `ingenuam mulierem`, meaning "of honest life" or "respectable".
  2. 25.7.3.prrecusantem — Present participle accusative masculine singular. It modifies the implied subject (accusative `eum`) of the infinitive `committere` within the construction `necesse est ei...`, meaning "if he refuses (marriage)". This represents a shift to the accusative subject of the infinitive, diverging from the dative `ei`.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §25.7.3.pr-25.7.3.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:25.7.3.pr-25.7.3.1

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