[PAULUS libro septimo decimo ad edictum. ] §42.1.3.prQui damnare potest, is absoluendi quoque potestatem habet.
[PAULUS, in the seventeenth book on the Edict.] He who has the power to condemn also has the power to acquit.
Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §42.1.3.pr
Power to Acquit as Inherent in the Power to Condemn
Summary
Presents the fundamental principle of judicial authority that whoever has the power to condemn also inherently possesses the power to acquit.
Notes
- §42.1.3.prabsoluendi — The genitive singular of the gerund of the verb absoluere (to acquit, release). It modifies the noun potestatem, expressing "the power of acquitting." In Roman civil procedure (the formulary system), the instruction given to the judge in the condemnatio clause was alternative: either to damnare (condemn, find liable) or absoluere (acquit, release).
Cite this passage
Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §42.1.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:42.1.3.pr
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