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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §37.15.5.pr-37.15.5.1

Immunity of Parents and Patrons from Actions on the Case

Passage 5879 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulapian explains the legal protections for parents and patrons, stating that they cannot be held liable under an action on the facts even if accused of accepting money, nor can infamy-inducing actions or those mentioning malice or fraud be brought against them.

[ULPIANUS libro decimo ad edictum. ] §37.15.5.prParens, patronus patrona, liberiue aut parentes patroni patronaeue, neque si ob negotium faciendum uel non faciendum pecuniam accepisse dicerentur, in factum actione tenentur.
[ULPIANUS, from the tenth book on the Edict.] A parent, a patron, a patroness, or the children or parents of a patron or patroness, are not held liable under an action on the facts, even if they should be said to have accepted money for performing or not performing some business.
§37.15.5.1Sed nec famosae actiones aduersus eos dantur, nec hae quidem, quae doli uel fraudis habent mentionem,
But neither are famous actions granted against them, nor indeed those which make mention of malice or fraud.

Notes

  1. §37.15.5.prneque si ... dicerentur — The subjunctive imperfect (dicerentur) in the conditional clause expresses a hypothetical scenario. It is paired with the indicative present (tenentur) in the main clause to strongly state a general legal principle that such liability is not recognized under any such hypothetical circumstance.
  2. §37.15.5.1nec hae quidem, quae doli uel fraudis habent mentionem — The correlative 'nec ... quidem' means 'not even'. The antecedent of the relative pronoun 'quae' is 'hae' (referring to actions in general, not just famous/infamy-inducing ones). This indicates a double protection: not only are infamy-inducing actions (famosae actiones) barred, but even ordinary actions that do not directly carry infamy are disallowed if they contain any wording that mentions malice (dolus) or fraud (fraus) against the patrons or parents.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §37.15.5.pr-37.15.5.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:37.15.5.pr-37.15.5.1

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