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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.1.41.pr

Ownership of City Statues and Ban on Removal by Individuals

Passage 6671 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It is argued that statues set up in a city do not belong to individual citizens, and the praetor must prevent anyone from removing them, protecting citizens with exceptions or actions.

[ULPIANUS libro nono ad edictum. ] §41.1.41.prStatuas in ciuitate positas ciuium non esse, idque Trebatius et Pegasus: dare tamen operam praetorem oportere, ut, quod ea mente in publico positum est, ne liceret priuato auferre nec ei qui posuerit.
[ULPIANUS, from the Commentary on the Edict, book 9] Statues placed in a city do not belong to the citizens, and Trebatius and Pegasus hold this; however, the praetor ought to take care that what has been placed in public with that intention may not be taken away by a private individual, nor by the one who placed it.
tuendi ergo ciues erunt et aduersus petentem exceptione et actione aduersus possidentem iuuandi.
Therefore, the citizens must be protected by an exception against a claimant, and assisted by an action against a possessor.

Notes

  1. §41.1.41.prciuium — Possessive genitive. It is part of the accusative-with-infinitive construction (indirect speech) and combines with the predicate 'esse' to mean 'do not belong to the citizens'.
  2. §41.1.41.pridque Trebatius et Pegasus — The neuter accusative singular pronoun 'id' (referring to the preceding statement that statues do not belong to the citizens) is juxtaposed with the subjects in the nominative case; a verb of thinking or saying, such as 'respondent' or 'putant', is omitted.
  3. §41.1.41.prea mente — Ablative of manner or quality ('with that intention' / 'with that mind'), explaining the purpose of the placement in the relative clause 'quod... positum est'.
  4. §41.1.41.prtuendi ergo ciues erunt et aduersus petentem exceptione et actione aduersus possidentem iuuandi. — A parallel structure of obligation expressed by two gerundives, 'tuendi' and 'iuuandi', governed by 'erunt'. As a consequence introduced by 'ergo', the citizens ('ciues') serve as the subject. A double symmetrical relationship is formed: against a claimant ('petentem') by the ablative of means 'exceptione' (by an exception), and against a possessor ('possidentem') by the ablative of means 'actione' (by an action).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.1.41.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.1.41.pr

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