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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.3.54.pr-3.3.54.1

Disqualifications for Defenders and Venue for Guardians

Passage 537 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus states that neither women, soldiers, those absent on public business, the chronically ill, future magistrates, nor those exempt from involuntary trial can be suitable defenders, and that guardians must be defended in the place where they administered their office.

[PAULUS libro quinquagensimo ad edictum. ] §3.3.54.prNeque femina neque miles neque qui rei publicae causa afuturus est aut morbo perpetuo tenetur aut magistratum initurus est aut inuitus iudicium pati non potest, idoneus defensor intellegitur.
[PAULUS in the fiftieth book on the edict.] Neither a woman, nor a soldier, nor one who is to be absent on public business, or is held by a permanent illness, or is about to enter upon a magistracy, or cannot be compelled to undergo trial against his will, is understood to be a suitable defender.
§3.3.54.1Tutores, qui in aliquo loco administrauerunt, eodem loco et defendi debent.
Guardians who have administered their office in any place must also be defended in that same place.

Notes

  1. §3.3.54.prqui rei publicae causa afuturus est aut morbo perpetuo tenetur aut magistratum initurus est aut inuitus iudicium pati non potest — The antecedent of the relative pronoun qui is omitted, and the clause starting with neque qui ... is coordinated with neque femina and neque miles. The predicates inside the relative clause are four verb phrases (afuturus est, tenetur, initurus est, non potest) connected by aut.
  2. §3.3.54.prinuitus iudicium pati non potest — The adjective inuitus is used predicatively modifying the subject (qui), meaning 'against his will' or 'unwillingly'. The word pati is the present infinitive of the deponent verb patior (to suffer, undergo). It refers to a person who, by privilege or status, cannot be forced to undergo trial against their will.
  3. §3.3.54.1defendi debent — The word defendi is a passive infinitive, literally meaning 'to be defended'. In a legal context, it refers to a defendant defending himself or being defended by a representative in court. Here, it implies that guardians, if sued regarding their administration, must undergo or answer the trial in the same place where they administered their office.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.3.54.pr-3.3.54.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.3.54.pr-3.3.54.1

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