Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.5.12.pr

Principle of Preferring Validity in Ambiguous Language

Passage 5276 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment presents the interpretive principle that when language in actions or exceptions is ambiguous, the interpretation that preserves the validity of the matter in question should be preferred over one that invalidates it.

[IDEM libro quinquagesimo digestorum. ] §34.5.12.prQuotiens in actionibus aut in exceptionibus ambigua oratio est, commodissimum est id accipi, quo res de qua agitur magis ualeat quam pereat.
[THE SAME, in the fiftieth book of the Digests.] Whenever the language in actions or in exceptions is ambiguous, it is most suitable that that interpretation be accepted by which the matter in question may rather be valid than perish.

Notes

  1. §34.5.12.prid accipi — An accusative with infinitive clause serving as the subject of the impersonal predicate commodissimum est ('it is most suitable'), where id is the subject accusative and accipi is the present passive infinitive.
  2. §34.5.12.prquo res de qua agitur magis ualeat quam pereat — The word quo is a conjunction introducing a purpose clause with the comparative magis (equivalent to ut eo), meaning 'so that thereby... may be more valid'. Alternatively, it can be taken as the ablative of means of the relative pronoun referring to id. The phrase res de qua agitur is a legal expression meaning 'the matter in dispute'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.5.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.5.12.pr

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