Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §44.7.28.pr

Distinction between Action, Petition, and Pursuit

Passage 7313 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinian defines the differences between an action (actio), a petition (petitio), and a prosecution (persecutio), specifying against whom or what they are brought and for what purpose.

[IDEM libro primo definitionum. ] §44.7.28.prActio in personam infertur: petitio in rem: persecutio in rem uel in personam rei persequendae gratia.
[THE SAME, from his first book of Definitions.] An action is brought against a person; a petition, against a thing; a prosecution, against a thing or a person for the purpose of recovering a thing.

Notes

  1. §44.7.28.prinfertur — The third-person singular present passive verb. While explicitly stated in the first clause 'Actio in personam infertur', it is understood and supplied in the two subsequent elliptical clauses 'petitio in rem' and 'persecutio in rem...'.
  2. §44.7.28.prrei persequendae gratia — A gerundive construction in which the feminine genitive singular of the gerundive persequendae agrees with the genitive singular of the noun rei. Used with the postposition gratia (which governs the genitive) to express purpose: 'for the purpose of recovering the thing'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §44.7.28.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:44.7.28.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.