Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.10.2.pr

Denial of a Wife's Right of Action for Injury to Her Husband

Passage 8001 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that a wife cannot bring an action for an injury committed against her husband, and the reason based on the asymmetry of protection between spouses.

[PAULUS libro quinquagesimo ad edictum. ] §47.10.2.prQuod si uiro iniuria facta sit, uxor non agit, quia defendi uxores a uiris, non uiros ab uxoribus aequum est.

[PAULUS, On the Edict, book fifty.] But if an iniuria is committed against a husband, the wife does not bring an action, because it is equitable that wives be defended by their husbands, not husbands by their wives.

Notes

§47.10.2.prdefendi uxores a uiris, non uiros ab uxoribus aequum est — The infinitive clause (A.C.I.) serves as the subject of the impersonal expression aequum est ('it is equitable'). Under the present passive infinitive defendi, uxores is the subject accusative and a uiris is the ablative of agent. The second part, non uiros ab uxoribus, is elliptical, omitting the infinitive defendi, with uiros functioning as its subject accusative.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.10.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.10.2.pr

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