Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §43.16.17.pr

Immediate Recovery of Possession by Force and the Interdict

Passage 7093 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Julianus explains that recovering possession by force during the immediate conflict is viewed as a restoration of the original status rather than a violent possession, and illustrates the availability of the interdict unde vi in subsequent ejections.

[IULIANUS libro quadragensimo octauo digestorum. ] §43.16.17.prQui possessionem ui ereptam ui in ipso congressu reciperat, in pristinam causam reuerti potius quam ui possidere intellegendus est: ideoque si te deiecero, ilico tu me, deinde ego te, unde ui interdictum tibi utile erit.
[JULIANUS, in the forty-eighth book of the Digests.] He who recovers by force a possession taken from him by force, in the very course of the conflict, must be understood to have returned to his former position rather than to possess by force: and therefore, if I eject you, and you immediately eject me, and then I eject you, the interdict unde vi will be available to you.

Notes

  1. §43.16.17.prin ipso congressu — 'in the very course of the conflict'. This phrase denotes immediate self-help (recovery) performed on the spot against an act of violence. It consists of the preposition in governing the ablative, the intensive pronoun ipse in the ablative, and the fourth-declension noun congressus (conflict, encounter) in the ablative singular.
  2. §43.16.17.prpotius quam ui possidere — The infinitive possidere (to possess) depends on the gerundive intellegendus est as part of the nominative-with-infinitive construction, expressing that the subject (qui... reciperat) is understood 'to possess by force'. It is contrasted here with in pristinam causam reuerti (to return to the former position) via potius quam (rather than).
  3. §43.16.17.prsi te deiecero, ilico tu me, deinde ego te — A conditional clause with ellipsis of verbs. Following si te deiecero (future perfect), deieceris (if you eject me) is omitted in ilico tu me, and deiecero (if I eject you) is omitted in deinde ego te. This omission of repeating verbs is standard in juristic prose for conciseness.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §43.16.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:43.16.17.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.