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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.3.26.pr

Protection of Aqueducts Established by Long Usage

Passage 6199 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Scaevola answers that judicial magistrates usually protect aqueducts whose authority is established by long usage, even if the specific legal right cannot be proved.

[SCAEUOLA libro quarto responsorum. ] §39.3.26.prScaeuola respondit solere eos, qui iuri dicundo praesunt, tueri ductus aquae, quibus auctoritatem uetustas daret, tametsi ius non probaretur.
[SCAEVOLA in the fourth book of responses.] Scaevola answered that those who preside over the administration of justice are accustomed to protect aqueducts to which antiquity gives authority, even if the right is not proved.

Notes

  1. §39.3.26.priuri dicundo praesunt — iuri dicundo is the dative case of the gerundive phrase of ius dicere (to administer justice), governed by the verb praesunt (to preside over), which controls the dative. The phrase as a whole refers to those administering justice or judicial magistrates.
  2. §39.3.26.prquibus auctoritatem uetustas daret — The subjunctive daret (imperfect) in the relative clause is due to its subordination within indirect speech (suboblique subjunctive) introduced by respondit, or because it characterizes the antecedent (subjunctive of characteristic).
  3. §39.3.26.prtametsi ius non probaretur — The subjunctive probaretur (imperfect passive) within the concessive clause introduced by tametsi (even if) is also due to its subordination within the indirect speech dependent on the main verb respondit.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.3.26.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.3.26.pr

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