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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.16.12.pr

Failure to Renew Charges After Public Amnesty and the SC

Passage 8347 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains why the Turpilian Senatusconsultum does not apply to a prosecutor who fails to renew charges within the prescribed period after a public amnesty has been granted by a decree of the senate.

[ULPIANUS libro secundo de adulteriis. ] §48.16.12.prSi interveniente publica abolitione ex senatus consulto, ut fieri adsolet, uel ob laetitiam aliquam uel honorem domus diuinae uel ex aliqua causa, ex qua senatus censuit abolitionem reorum fieri, nec intra dies praestitutos reum repetierit: dicendum est cessare Turpillianum senatus consultum.
[Ulpian, On Adulteries, Book II.] If, upon the intervention of a public amnesty by a decree of the senate—as is customary, either on account of some occasion of public joy, or for the honor of the imperial house, or for any other reason for which the senate has decreed that an amnesty for defendants should take place—a prosecutor has not renewed the charge against the defendant within the prescribed days, it must be said that the Turpilian Senatusconsultum does not apply.
nec enim uidetur desistere, qui exemptum reum non defert: eximitur autem reorum abolitione interueniente.
For he who does not prosecute a defendant who has been exempted is not deemed to abandon the prosecution; and a defendant is exempted upon the intervention of an amnesty for defendants.

Notes

  1. §48.16.12.printerveniente publica abolitione — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun abolitione and the present participle interveniente, expressing the prior condition within the conditional Si clause.
  2. §48.16.12.prrepetierit — The verb of the conditional Si clause, in the perfect subjunctive or future perfect indicative. The unexpressed subject is the prosecutor. The phrase reum repetere means to renew or bring back the accusation against the defendant within the designated period after a public amnesty.
  3. §48.16.12.prdesistere — Refers to the 'voluntary abandonment of a prosecution' (desistio) in Roman law. While voluntary abandonment triggers penalties under the Turpilian Senatusconsultum, it is explained here that a prosecutor who simply does not proceed against an already exempted (exemptum) defendant is not deemed to have voluntarily abandoned the case (non videtur desistere).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.16.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.16.12.pr

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