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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §43.11.1.pr-43.11.1.3

Interdict on Opening and Repairing Public Roads

Passage 7064 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The praetor's interdict protecting the opening and repair of public roads is presented, with explanations on the definitions of opening, cleaning, and repairing, the prohibition of altering the road's specifications, and the scope of the interdict.

[ULPIANUS libro sexagensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §43.11.1.prPraetor ait: Quo minus illi 'uiam publicam iterue publicum aperire reficere liceat, dum ne ea uia idue iter deterius fiat, uim fieri ueto'. §43.11.1.1Uiam aperire est ad ueterem altitudinem latitudinemque restituere.
The praetor says: "I forbid force to be used to prevent a person from being allowed 'to open or repair a public road or public passage', provided that the road or passage is not made worse thereby." "To open" a road is to restore it to its former height and width.
sed et purgare refectionis portio est: purgare autem proprie dicitur ad libramentum proprium redigere sublato eo quod super eam esset.
But cleaning is also a part of repairing; and "to clean" is properly said to bring it back to its proper level by removing what was on top of it.
reficit enim et qui aperit et qui purgat et omnes omnino, qui in pristinum statum reducunt.
For anyone who opens, anyone who cleans, and indeed everyone who restores it to its original state, is repairing.
§43.11.1.2Si quis in specie refectionis deteriorem uiam facit, impune uim patietur.
If anyone under the guise of repair makes the road worse, he will suffer force with impunity.
propter quod neque latiorem neque longiorem neque altiorem neque humiliorem uiam sub nomine refectionis is qui interdicit potest facere, uel in uiam terrenam glaream inicere aut sternere uiam lapide quae terrena sit, uel contra lapide stratam terrenam facere.
For this reason, the person who avails himself of the interdict cannot, under the name of repair, make the road wider, longer, higher, or lower, or throw gravel onto an unpaved road, or pave an unpaved road with stone, or on the contrary, make a stone-paved road unpaved.
§43.11.1.3Interdictum hoc perpetuo dabitur et omnibus et in omnes, et habet condemnationem in id quod actoris intererit.
This interdict will be granted in perpetuity, both to all and against all, and it carries a condemnation for the amount of the plaintiff's interest.

Notes

  1. §43.11.1.prQuo minus illi ... liceat ... uim fieri ueto — A typical interdict formula where uim fieri ueto (I forbid force to be used) governs a quo minus clause (preventing someone from being allowed to do something).
  2. §43.11.1.1refectionis portio est — refectionis is a partitive genitive qualifying portio, meaning 'cleaning is also a part of repair.'
  3. §43.11.1.2is qui interdicit — The verb interdicere here means 'to apply for or avail oneself of an interdict,' and thus is qui interdicit refers to the petitioner or the person who avails himself of the protection of the interdict.
  4. §43.11.1.3condemnationem in id quod actoris intererit — id quod actoris intererit is a relative clause featuring the future perfect of the impersonal verb interest with the genitive of interest actoris (that which will have concerned the plaintiff). It refers to the condemnation (condemnatio) calculated based on the actual financial interest or loss of the plaintiff.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §43.11.1.pr-43.11.1.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:43.11.1.pr-43.11.1.3

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