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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §43.21.4.pr

Rationale for Interdict on Water Channel Repair without Proving Rights

Passage 7123 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains why in the interdict on repairing channels, unlike that on roads, it is not questioned whether the plaintiff has the right to draw water, as water is essential for sustaining life.

[UENULEIUS libro primo interdictorum. ] §43.21.4.prDe riuis reficiendis ita interdicetur, ut non quaeratur, an aquam ducere actori liceret: non enim tam necessariam refectionem itinerum quam riuorum esse, quando non refectis riuis omnis usus aquae auferretur et homines siti necarentur.
[VENULEIUS, from the first book on interdicts.] Regarding the repair of channels, an interdict will be issued in such a way that it is not inquired whether the plaintiff had the right to draw water; for the repair of roads is not as necessary as that of channels, since if channels are not repaired, all use of water would be taken away and people would die of thirst.
et sane aqua peruenire nisi refecto riuo non potest: at non refecto itinere difficultas tantum eundi agendique fieret, quae temporibus aestiuis leuior esset.
And indeed, water cannot arrive unless the channel is repaired; whereas if a road is not repaired, only a difficulty of passing and driving would arise, which would be lighter in the summer season.

Notes

  1. §43.21.4.presse — Although introduced by the causal conjunction enim, this clause is constructed in indirect speech as a report of a legal opinion, hence employing the accusative and infinitive construction with refectionem as its subject instead of a subjunctive verb.
  2. §43.21.4.preundi agendique — Genitives of the gerunds modifying the noun difficultas. They refer respectively to "going" (eundi), corresponding to the right of passage on foot (iter), and "driving" (agendi), corresponding to the right of driving beasts or vehicles (actus) in Roman law.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §43.21.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:43.21.4.pr

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