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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.14.2.pr

Classification of Cattle-Theft and Armed Severity

Passage 8073 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Macer explains that although cattle-raiding is essentially classified as theft rather than a public crime, it is punished severely because the perpetrators often carry weapons.

[MACER libro primo publicorum iudiciorum. ] §47.14.2.prAbigeatus crimen publici iudicii non est, quia furtum magis est.
[MACER, in the first book on Public Judgments.] crime of cattle-raiding is not a crime of a public judgment, because it is rather theft.
sed quia plerumque abigei et ferro utuntur, si deprehendentur, ideo grauiter et puniri eorum admissum solet.
But because cattle-raiders usually use weapons as well, if they are caught, for that reason their offense is also accustomed to be punished severely.

Notes

  1. §47.14.2.prpublici iudicii — A genitive modifying the noun `crimen`, defining the nature of its jurisdiction. In Roman law, a "public judgment" (publicum iudicium) dealt with crimes (crimina) that affected the public order of the state, whereas ordinary "theft" (furtum), as a private delict (delictum), was subject to private law. This explains why cattle-raiding, despite being essentially a private theft, is treated with severe public penalties.
  2. §47.14.2.prdeprehendentur — The third-person plural future indicative passive of `deprehendere` (to catch, apprehend). Within the conditional clause introduced by `si`, it expresses a potential future event ("if they should be caught"), which is logically connected to the main verb `solet` (it is customary) expressing a general, timeless truth.
  3. §47.14.2.preorum admissum — The genitive pronoun `eorum` (of them) functions as a subject genitive modifying the neuter noun `admissum` (offense, crime). In the syntax of the sentence, `eorum admissum` acts as the grammatical subject of the main verb `solet`, which takes the passive infinitive `puniri` ("their offense is accustomed to be punished severely").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.14.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.14.2.pr

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