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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.2.73.pr-47.2.73.1

Theft by Secretly Taking and Reading Undelivered Documents

Passage 7935 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus responds to a query on the liability of Lucius who read aloud in court documents drafted but not delivered by Sempronia, stating that if taken secretly, it constitutes theft.

[MODESTINUS libro septimo responsorum. ] §47.2.73.prSempronia libellos composuit quasi datura centurioni, ut ad officium transmitterentur, sed non dedit: Lucius pro tribunali eos recitauit quasi officio traditos: non sunt inuenti in officio neque centurioni traditi: quaero, quo crimini subiciatur, qui ausus est libellos de domo subtractos pro tribunali legere, qui non sint dati?
[MODESTINUS in the seventh book of Responses.] Sempronia drafted documents as if about to give them to the centurion, so that they might be transmitted to the office, but she did not give them. Lucius read them aloud before the tribunal as if they had been delivered to the office; they were not found in the office, nor delivered to the centurion. I ask: to what charge is he subject, who dared to read before the tribunal documents taken from the house, which had not been given?
§47.2.73.1Modestinus respondit, si clam subtraxit, furtum commissum.
Modestinus replied: if he took them away secretly, theft was committed.

Notes

  1. §47.2.73.prquo crimini subiciatur — crimini is the dative singular of crimen (charge/crime). The active verb subicere means "to subject (accusative) to (dative)," and in the passive subiciatur, it means "to what charge he is subject/liable."
  2. §47.2.73.prqui non sint dati — A relative clause modifying the antecedent libellos. The subjunctive sint is used to express the characteristic nature of the documents ("such as had not been delivered") or to emphasize the concessive nuance ("although they had not been delivered").
  3. §47.2.73.1furtum commissum — An indirect statement (accusative with infinitive) depending on Modestinus respondit. The copula esse is omitted from furtum commissum [esse].

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.2.73.pr-47.2.73.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.2.73.pr-47.2.73.1

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