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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §39.4.6.pr

Divided Liability of Multiple Publicans for Unlawful Exactions

Passage 6205 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It is explained that when multiple publicans make unlawful exactions, the action for the double amount is not cumulative but divided among them, with any unpaid share being exacted from the others, based on the distinction between co-defendants of a crime and participants in a fraud.

[MODESTINUS libro secundo de poenis. ] §39.4.6.prSi multi publicani sint, qui illicite quid exegerunt, non multiplicatur dupli actio, sed omnes partes praestabunt et quod ab alio praestari non potest, ab altero exigetur, sicut diuus Seuerus et Antoninus rescripserunt: nam inter criminis reos et fraudis participes multum esse constituerunt.
[MODESTINUS on Penalties, Book II.] If there are multiple publicans who have unlawfully exacted something, the action for the double amount is not multiplied, but all shall pay their respective shares, and what cannot be paid by one shall be exacted from another, as the deified Severus and Antoninus stated in a rescript; for they established that there is a great difference between those accused of a crime and participants in a fraud.

Notes

  1. §39.4.6.prpartes — Accusative plural, meaning "shares" or "portions." It indicates that when there are multiple wrongdoers, the liability is not cumulatively imposed on each for the full amount, but rather, as a rule, they pay a divided portion of the whole (divided liability).
  2. §39.4.6.prmultum esse — An accusative with infinitive clause governed by constituerunt ("they established"). Here, multum ("much" / "a great deal") functions as the subject accusative of esse, indicating that there is "a great difference" between the two categories.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §39.4.6.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:39.4.6.pr

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