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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.13.2.pr

Extortion Involving False Accusation and Public Trials

Passage 8071 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that while extortion itself is not a public trial, it can become a public trial under senatorial decrees applying the Cornelian Law if it involves conspiring to accuse the innocent or taking bribes to influence prosecution or testimony.

[MACER libro primo publicorum iudiciorum. ] §47.13.2.prConcussionis iudicium publicum non est: sed si ideo pecuniam quis accepit, quod crimen minatus sit, potest iudicium publicum esse ex senatus consultis, quibus poena legis Corneliae teneri iubentur, qui in accusationem innocentium coierint quiue ob accusandum uel non accusandum, denuntiandum uel non denuntiandum testimonium pecuniam acceperit.
[MACER, in the first book on Public Judgments.] The trial for extortion is not a public one; but if someone has accepted money on the ground that he threatened a criminal charge, it can be a public trial under the decrees of the senate, by which those who have conspired for the accusation of innocent persons, or who have accepted money for accusing or not accusing, or for giving or not giving testimony, are ordered to be liable to the penalty of the Cornelian law.

Notes

  1. §47.13.2.prpoena legis Corneliae teneri — The passive infinitive `teneri` (from `tenere`) means 'to be bound by' or 'to be liable to,' taking the ablative of penalty `poena`. `legis Corneliae` (the Cornelian Law) is a genitive modifying `poena`.
  2. §47.13.2.prob accusandum uel non accusandum, denuntiandum uel non denuntiandum testimonium — The preposition `ob` (for the purpose of) governs both the gerund `accusandum` (and `non accusandum`) and the gerundive construction `denuntiandum... testimonium` (and `non denuntiandum...`). `denuntiare testimonium` means to give notice of testimony or to testify.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.13.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.13.2.pr

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