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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §4.6.3.pr

Criteria of Absence from Fear and Judicial Assessment

Passage 766 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Defines absence because of fear as being based on a justified fear of death or bodily torture, leaving the specific assessment to the judge's investigation.

[ULPIANUS libro duodecimo ad edictum. ] §4.6.3.prMetus autem causa abesse uidetur, qui iusto timore mortis uel cruciatus corporis conterritus abest: et hoc ex affectu eius intellegitur.
[ULPIANUS libro duodecimo ad edictum.] Now, a person is deemed to be absent because of fear who is absent through being terrified by a justified fear of death or bodily torture; and this is understood from his state of mind.
sed non sufficit quolibet terrore abductum timuisse, sed huius rei disquisitio iudicis est.
But it is not sufficient for someone who has been led away by just any terror to have been afraid, but the investigation of this matter belongs to the judge.

Notes

  1. §4.6.3.prabesse uidetur, qui... abest — The verb uidetur (passive of uidere) is used personally ("is deemed/seen to") rather than impersonally. The demonstrative pronoun is, which serves as the antecedent of the relative pronoun qui, is omitted and acts as the grammatical subject of uidetur. Thus, the structure is "[the person] who... is deemed to be absent."
  2. §4.6.3.prabductum timuisse — An accusative-with-infinitive construction serving as the subject of the impersonal verb sufficit. An accusative pronoun (such as eum) is omitted as the subject of the infinitive timuisse ("to have been afraid"), and the perfect passive participle abductum ("led away/distracted") modifies this omitted pronoun. quolibet terrore is an ablative of cause or instrument ("by just any terror").
  3. §4.6.3.priudicis est — The genitive iudicis (from iudex, "judge") combined with est. This is a genitive of duty, office, or property, meaning "is the duty of the judge" or "belongs to the judge."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §4.6.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:4.6.3.pr

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