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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.4.4.pr-39.4.4.2

Liability of a Tax Collector's Heir and Governors' Exemption

Passage 6203 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section addresses the liability limit of a deceased publican's heir, the tax-exempt procedure for goods imported by governors for personal use, and the general rule that custom is observed in tax matters.

[PAULUS libro quinquagesimo secundo ad edictum. ] §39.4.4.prSi publicanus, qui ui ademit, decesserit, Labeo ait in heredem eius, quo locupletior factus sit, dandam actionem.
[PAULUS in the fifty-second book on the Edict.] If a publican who has taken away anything by force should die, Labeo says that an action should be granted against his heir to the extent that the heir has been made richer thereby.
§39.4.4.1De rebus, quas in usus aduehendas sibi mandant praesides, diuus Hadrianus praesidibus scripsit, ut, quotiens quis in usus aut eorum, qui prouinciis exercitibusue praesunt, aut procuratorum suorum usus sui causa mittet quendam empturum, significet libello manu sua subscripto eumque ad publicanum mittat, ut, si quid amplius quam mandatum est transferet, id munificum sit.
Concerning the things which governors order to be imported for their own use, the divine Hadrian wrote to the governors that, whenever anyone, for his own needs, sends someone to buy either for the use of those who govern provinces or armies, or for the use of their procurators, he should indicate this in a document signed with his own hand and send it to the publican, so that, if he transports anything more than what was ordered, it shall be subject to tax.
§39.4.4.2In omnibus uectigalibus fere consuetudo spectari solet idque etiam principalibus constitutionibus cauetur.
In almost all taxes, custom is usually observed, and this is also provided for by imperial constitutions.

Notes

  1. §39.4.4.prquo locupletior factus sit — The ablative quo expresses means ("by which") or restriction ("to the extent that"), indicating the classical principle of the heir's liability limited to the enrichment (locupletior) derived from the deceased's unlawful act (ui adimere).
  2. §39.4.4.1quas in usus aduehendas sibi mandant — aduehendas is a gerundive agreeing with the relative pronoun quas (antecedent rebus), expressing the passive purpose or duty ("ordered to be imported") as the object of the transitive verb mandant.
  3. §39.4.4.1id munificum sit — The reading munificum in the manuscript tradition (normally "generous") is understood in this legal context as "subject to duty" (losing the tax-exempt status) or interpreted as synonymous with the variant reading commissum ("confiscated").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.4.4.pr-39.4.4.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.4.4.pr-39.4.4.2

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