Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.10.31.pr

Penalties and Pardons for Presenting Unprovable Documents

Passage 8297 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains Emperor Antoninus Pius' rescript on penalties for presenting unprovable documents in court, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius' subsequent mitigation which pardoned those who did so by mistake.

[CALLISTRATUS libro tertio de cognitionibus. ] §48.10.31.prDiuus Pius Claudio rescripsit pro mensura cuiusque delicti constituendum in eos, qui apud iudices instrumenta protulerunt, quae probari non possint: aut si plus meruisse uideatur, quam ex forma iurisdictionis pati possint, ut imperatori describatur aestimaturo, quatenus coerceri debeant.
[CALLISTRATUS, in the third book on Extraordinary Trials.] The Divine Pius wrote in a rescript to Claudius that a penalty should be determined, according to the measure of each offense, against those who have produced before judges documents that cannot be proved; or, if any of them should seem to have deserved more than they can suffer under the form of that jurisdiction, that the matter should be described to the Emperor, who will assess to what extent they ought to be punished.
sed diuus Marcus cum fratre suo pro sua humanitate hanc rem temperauit, ut, si (quod plerumque euenit) per errorem huiusmodi instrumenta proferantur, ignoscatur eis, qui tale quicquam protulerint.
But the Divine Marcus, with his brother, in accordance with his humanity, tempered this rule so that, if (as often happens) such documents are produced by mistake, those who have produced any such thing should be pardoned.

Notes

  1. §48.10.31.prconstituendum — An impersonal passive gerundive with [esse] omitted, which, together with the following 'in eos' (against them), indicates the necessity of determining a penalty.
  2. §48.10.31.prpati possint — The subject of 'pati' is contextually understood as 'iudices' (the judges), referring to what they can 'inflict' (or tolerate) within the limits of their jurisdiction. Alternatively, the culprits could be the subject ('what they can suffer under that jurisdiction'), but the interpretation focusing on the limit of the judges' authority is more appropriate.
  3. §48.10.31.prignoscatur eis — Since 'ignoscere' (to pardon) is an intransitive verb governing the dative, its passive voice is formed only impersonally ('ignoscatur') with the dative ('eis'), meaning 'that they should be pardoned'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.10.31.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.10.31.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.