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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.1.4.pr

Rationale for Allowing All Citizens to Denounce Work on Public Land

Passage 6101 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that the reason all citizens can make a denunciation regarding public land is that it is in the interest of the commonwealth to involve as many people as possible to defend its cause.

[PAULUS libro quadragensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §39.1.4.prnam rei publicae interest quam plurimos ad defendendam suam causam admittere.
[PAULUS in the forty-eighth book on the Edict.] for it is in the interest of the commonwealth to admit as many people as possible to defend its cause.

Notes

  1. §39.1.4.prrei publicae interest — The construction of the impersonal verb interest (it is in the interest of, it matters to), where the genitive rei publicae is used to express the person or entity whose interest is involved.
  2. §39.1.4.prsuam causam — The possessive reflexive adjective suam, which normally refers to the subject, here refers to the logical subject of the impersonal verb interest (namely, the genitive of interest rei publicae), meaning 'the commonwealth's own cause'.
  3. §39.1.4.prad defendendam — The preposition ad combined with the gerundive defendendam (agreeing in gender, number, and case with causam) to express purpose ('to defend' / 'for defending').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.1.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.1.4.pr

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