Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.31.pr

Validity of a Temporary Oath Not to Marry for a Freedwoman

Passage 6553 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Julian expresses the view that a patron who binds a freedwoman by oath not to marry only while she has underaged children does not violate the Lex Aelia Sentia, as it does not impose perpetual widowhood.

[TERENTIUS CLEMENS libro quinto ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §40.9.31.prQuaesitum est, si libertam patronus iureiurando adegisset, ne ea liberos impuberes habens nuberet, quid iuris esset.
[TERENTIUS CLEMENS, from the fifth book on the Lex Iulia et Papia.] The question was asked, what the law was if a patron had bound a freedwoman by oath not to marry while she had children under puberty.
Iulianus dicit non uideri contra legem Aeliam Sentiam fecisse eum, qui non perpetuam uiduitatem libertae iniunxisset.
Julian says that he who has not imposed perpetual widowhood on a freedwoman does not seem to have acted against the Lex Aelia Sentia.

Notes

  1. §40.9.31.prquid iuris esset — This is an indirect question clause serving as the logical subject of the impersonal passive `Quaesitum est`. `iuris` is a partitive genitive ("what of law"), meaning "what the legal position/effect was".
  2. §40.9.31.prliberos impuberes habens — The present participle `habens` agrees with `ea` (referring to the freedwoman, the subject of `nuberet`) and has a temporal or circumstantial force ("while she has underaged children").
  3. §40.9.31.prnon uideri contra legem Aeliam Sentiam fecisse eum — An accusative-with-infinitive (AcI) construction dependent on `dicit`. The accusative `eum` (antecedent of the relative clause `qui...`) acts as the subject of the passive infinitive `uideri`, which in turn governs the active infinitive `fecisse`, forming a nested structure: "that he (`eum`) does not seem (`uideri`) to have acted (`fecisse`)".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.31.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.31.pr

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