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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §26.1.18.pr

Ineligibility of Women as Guardians and Exceptions by Imperial Petition

Passage 3746 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that women cannot generally be appointed as guardians because it is an office for men, with the exception of specially petitioning the emperor for the guardianship of their own children.

[NERATIUS libro tertio regularum. ] §26.1.18.prFeminae tutores dari non possunt, quia id munus masculorum est, nisi a principe filiorum tutelam specialiter postulent.
[NERATIUS, Rules, Book 3.] Women cannot be appointed as guardians, because that office belongs to men, unless they specially petition the emperor for the guardianship of their children.

Notes

  1. §26.1.18.prdari non possunt — dari is the passive infinitive of the transitive verb do (to give, appoint), which here takes the nominative plural tutores as a predicate nominative agreeing with the subject Feminae, meaning 'cannot be appointed as guardians'.
  2. §26.1.18.prmasculorum — The genitive plural of masculus (male). The phrase id munus masculorum est constitutes a possessive genitive (or genitive of duty/characteristic), meaning 'that office belongs to men' or 'is the duty of men'.
  3. §26.1.18.prpostulent — The third-person plural present subjunctive of postulo (to petition). The subjunctive is used in the nisi clause to express an exceptional possibility or conditional reservation.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §26.1.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:26.1.18.pr

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