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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §27.10.4.pr

Son's Curatorship of an Insane Mother and Filial Piety

Passage 4077 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

States that the curatorship of an insane mother belongs to her son, justifying this by the equal piety owed to both parents despite their unequal legal authority.

[IDEM libro trigesimo octauo ad Sabinum. ] §27.10.4.prFuriosae matris curatio ad filium pertinet: pietas enim parentibus, etsi inaequalis est eorum potestas, aequa debebitur.
[THE SAME, in the thirty-eighth book on Sabinus.] The curatorship of a mad mother belongs to the son; for equal respect will be due to parents, even if their power is unequal.

Notes

  1. §27.10.4.prparentibus — Dative plural meaning "to parents." It functions as the indirect object of the passive verb debebitur ("will be owed"), referring to both the father and the mother.
  2. §27.10.4.pretsi inaequalis est eorum potestas — Concessive clause meaning "even if their power is unequal." Here, eorum ("their") refers to the parents. Under Roman law, the father possessed paternal power (patria potestas) while the mother did not; this clause contrasts that unequal legal authority (potestas) with the equal moral duty of filial piety (pietas) owed to both.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §27.10.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:27.10.4.pr

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