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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.10.9.pr

Structure of Direct and Collateral Lines of Cognation

Passage 6051 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains that the family trees of cognatic relationships are divided into ascending, descending, and collateral lines, noting that he has detailed them in a single separate book.

[PAULUS libro quarto sententiarum. ] §38.10.9.prΣτέματα cognationum directo limite in duas lineas separantur, quarum altera superior, altera inferior: ex superiore autem et secundo gradu transuersae lineae pendent, quas omnes latiore tractatu habito in librum singularem conteximus.
[PAULUS in his fourth book of Opinions.] The family trees of cognatic relationships are divided by a straight boundary into two lines, of which one is ascending and the other descending; and from the upper line, and indeed from the second degree, the collateral lines hang down, all of which I have woven together into a single book, after having held a broader discussion.

Notes

  1. §38.10.9.prΣτέματα — The nominative plural of the Latinized word stemma, derived from the Greek στέμμα (garland, and by extension, family tree, as family portraits were linked by garlands). In manuscripts, it is often spelled with a single 'm' as stemata.
  2. §38.10.9.prex superiore autem et secundo gradu — The feminine singular noun linea is understood after superiore, meaning "from the upper (ascending) line." Combined with et secundo gradu ("and from the second degree"), it indicates that the collateral lines branch off from the second degree of the ascending line (i.e., starting from siblings).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.10.9.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.10.9.pr

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