Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.1.14.pr

Exemption from Infamy for a Father Accusing in a Child's Death

Passage 8127 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinian opines that a father who was ruled to have committed calumny when accusing his son-in-law's slaves of poisoning his deceased daughter should not be declared infamous, because a father has a privileged right to seek vengeance for his child's death without risk of penalty.

[IDEM libro sexto decimo responsorum. ] §48.1.14.prGeneri seruis a socero ueneficii accusatis praeses prouinciae patrem calumniam intulisse pronuntiauerat.
[THE SAME in his sixteenth book of Opinions.] The governor of the province had pronounced that a father had committed calumny when the slaves of his son-in-law were accused of poisoning by him as their father-in-law.
inter infames patrem defunctae non habendum respondi, quoniam et si publicum iudicium inter liberos de morte filiae constitisset, citra periculum pater uindicaretur.
I replied that the father of the deceased woman should not be held among the infamous, because even if a public trial had been instituted between free persons concerning the death of his daughter, the father would have prosecuted her death without danger.

Notes

  1. §48.1.14.prgeneri seruis — generi (genitive singular of gener, "son-in-law") modifies seruis (dative plural of seruus, "slaves"). This entire dative phrase is the indirect object affected by calumniam intulisse ("to have committed calumny against").
  2. §48.1.14.printer liberos — Meaning "between free persons", referring to a case where a public trial (publicum iudicium) would be held against a person of free status (such as the son-in-law himself), rather than an inquiry involving slaves. It relates to the context of parental immunity from calumny in prosecuting a relative's death.
  3. §48.1.14.prcitra periculum pater uindicaretur — uindicaretur (imperfect subjunctive) expresses a counterfactual result in past time ("the father would have prosecuted / sought vengeance"). citra periculum ("without danger") refers to the legal privilege of being immune from the penalties of calumny (such as infamy) even if the prosecution failed.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.1.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.1.14.pr

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