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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.15.3.pr

Proving a More Honorable Status after Five Years from Death

Passage 6623 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It presents the legal rule that even after five years have elapsed since death, it is not forbidden to establish a more honorable status for the deceased, such as proving they died as a free person rather than a slave.

[HERMOGENIANUS libro sexto iuris epitomarum. ] §40.15.3.prAnte quinquennium defuncto status honestior, quam mortis tempore fuisse existimabatur, uindicari non prohibetur.
[HERMOGENIAN, in the Sixth Book of the Epitome of Law.] In the case of a person who died more than five years ago, it is not forbidden to claim a more honorable status than that which he was thought to have at the time of his death.
idcirco et si quis in seruitute moriatur, post quinquennium liber decessisse probari potest.
Therefore, even if someone dies in slavery, it can be proved after five years that he died a free man.

Notes

  1. §40.15.3.prdefuncto — defuncto is a substantivized participle meaning "the deceased person," functioning as a dative of reference (or dative of advantage). Modified by the adverbial phrase ante quinquennium (more than five years ago), it means "for a person who died more than five years ago." This reflects the context where the five-year prescription restricts only claims that degrade the status (status deterior) of the deceased, whereas claims to elevate it (status honestior) remain permissible even after five years.
  2. §40.15.3.prliber decessisse — decessisse is the perfect infinitive of the intransitive verb decedo (to die), and liber is its nominative complement (predicative adjective), expressing "having died in a free status." This forms a nominative with infinitive (NcI) construction dependent on the main verb potest; since the logical subject of the infinitive (the indefinite pronoun quis from the preceding clause) is in the nominative, the complement liber also takes the nominative case.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.15.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.15.3.pr

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