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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.11.6.pr-47.11.6.2

Penalties for Grain Monopolization and False Measures

Passage 8053 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The regulations against monopolizing grain (dardanaria) and the various penalties prescribed according to social status are discussed, alongside measures taken by Trajan and Hadrian against the use of false scales and measures.

[IDEM libro octauo de officio proconsulis. ] §47.11.6.prAnnonam adtemptare et uexare uel maxime dardanarii solent: quorum auaritiae obuiam itum est tam mandatis quam constitutionibus.
[THE SAME, from the eighth book On the Office of Proconsul.] To manipulate and disrupt the grain supply is what monopolists are especially accustomed to do; their greed has been countered both by mandates and by constitutions.
mandatis denique ita cauetur: 'Praeterea debebis custodire, ne dardanarii ullius mercis sint, ne aut ab his, qui coemptas merces supprimunt, aut a locupletioribus, qui fructus suos aequis pretiis uendere nollent, dum minus uberes prouentus exspectant, annona oneretur'. poena autem in hos uarie statuitur: nam plerumque, si negotiantes sunt, negotiatione eis tantum interdicitur, interdum et relegari solent, humiliores ad opus publicum dari.
In short, it is provided in the mandates as follows: "Furthermore, you must take care that there are no monopolists of any commodity, and that the grain supply is not burdened either by those who suppress goods they have bought up, or by the wealthier who refuse to sell their crops at fair prices while they await less abundant harvests." The penalty against these persons, however, is established in various ways: for generally, if they are merchants, they are only interdicted from trading; sometimes they are also accustomed to be relegated, and the lower classes to be sentenced to public labor.
§47.11.6.1Onerant annonam etiam staterae adulterinae, de quibus diuus Traianus edictum proposuit, quo edicto poenam legis Corneliae in eos statuit, perinde ac si lege testamentaria, quod testamentum falsum scripsisset signasset recitasset, damnatus esset.
False scales also burden the grain supply, concerning which the deified Trajan issued an edict; by this edict he established against them the penalty of the Lex Cornelia, just as if one had been condemned under the law on wills for having written, sealed, or read out a false will.
§47.11.6.2Sed et diuus Hadrianus eum, qui falsas mensuras habuit, in insulam relegauit.
But the deified Hadrian also relegated to an island anyone who kept false measures.

Notes

  1. §47.11.6.probuiam itum est — An impersonal passive construction of the intransitive phrase obuiam ire (which governs the dative and means 'to counteract' or 'to oppose'). The dative phrase quorum auaritiae, containing the genitive of the relative pronoun, serves as its object ('their greed').
  2. §47.11.6.prne dardanarii ullius mercis sint — The genitive of description ullius mercis modifies dardanarii. It is most naturally interpreted as 'that there should be no monopolists of any commodity'.
  3. §47.11.6.prnegotiatione eis tantum interdicitur — An impersonal passive construction of the verb interdicere, which governs a dative of person and an ablative of thing ('to interdict someone from something'). In the passive voice, the person remains in the dative (eis), while the prohibited activity is expressed in the ablative (negotiatione).
  4. §47.11.6.1perinde ac si... damnatus esset — A conditional clause of comparison introduced by the conjunction perinde ac si ('just as if'), taking the pluperfect subjunctive (damnatus esset). The subject refers contextually to an individual among those who used false scales.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.11.6.pr-47.11.6.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.11.6.pr-47.11.6.2

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