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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.10.16.pr-48.10.16.2

Application of the Cornelian Law to Document Theft and Forgery

Passage 8282 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains that the crime of stealing documents constitutes a public trial only when it involves a will, and that those who commit fraud, forgery, concealment, or erasure on other documents are likewise subject to the penalty of the Cornelian law.

[PAULUS libro tertio responsorum. ] §48.10.16.prRespondit instrumentorum subreptorum crimen non esse publici iudicii, nisi testamentum alicuius subreptum arguatur.
[PAULUS, Responses, Book III] He replied that the crime of stolen documents is not a matter for a public trial, unless it is alleged that someone's will has been stolen.
§48.10.16.1Paulus respondit legis Corneliae poena omnes teneri, qui etiam extra testamenta cetera falsa signassent.
Paulus replied that all those are liable to the penalty of the Cornelian law who have signed other false instruments even outside of wills.
§48.10.16.2Sed et ceteros, qui in rationibus tabulis litteris publicis aliaue qua re sine consignatione falsum fecerunt uel, ut uerum non appareat, quid celauerunt subripuerunt deleuerunt subiecerunt resignauerunt, eadem poena adfici solere dubium non esse.
But it is not doubtful that other persons as well—who, without sealing, have committed forgery in accounts, books, public documents, or any other matter, or who, so that the truth may not appear, have concealed, stolen, erased, substituted, or unsealed something—are customarily affected by the same penalty.

Notes

  1. §48.10.16.prpublici iudicii — A possessive or descriptive genitive used with the copula 'esse' (non esse publici iudicii), meaning 'to belong to a public trial' or 'to be a matter of public prosecution'.
  2. §48.10.16.1signassent — A syncopated form of 'signavissent' (pluperfect active subjunctive). The subjunctive is used because it stands in a subordinate clause within indirect discourse (Paulus respondit...) or refers to a hypothetical past action.
  3. §48.10.16.2ceteros ... dubium non esse — The main clause is 'dubium non esse' (it is not doubtful), which governs an accusative and infinitive construction where 'ceteros' is the subject accusative of 'adfici solere' (that other persons are customarily affected). 'Ceteros' is the antecedent of the relative pronoun 'qui'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.10.16.pr-48.10.16.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.10.16.pr-48.10.16.2

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