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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.13.13.pr

Peculatus for Breaching City Walls or Stealing from Them

Passage 8324 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian states that anyone who breaches city walls or steals something from them is liable to a prosecution for embezzlement of public property (peculatus).

[ULPIANUS libro sexagensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §48.13.13.prQui perforauerit muros uel inde aliquid abstulerit, peculatus actione tenetur.
[ULPIAN, On the Edict, Book LXVIII.] Anyone who has breached walls or has taken anything away from there is liable to an action for embezzlement of public property.

Notes

  1. §48.13.13.prpeculatus actione — The genitive singular noun peculatus (embezzlement of public property) modifies actione, the ablative singular of actio (action, prosecution). In Roman law, city walls (muri) were considered public and sacred property (res sanctae); therefore, damaging them or stealing from them was prosecuted as a crime against public property (peculatus) rather than simple theft.
  2. §48.13.13.prtenetur — The third-person singular present passive indicative of teneo (to hold, bind). Used in combination with the ablative actione, it forms a legal idiom meaning "to be held liable to an action" or "to be bound by a prosecution."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.13.13.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.13.13.pr

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