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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.18.12.pr

Prohibition of Torture Pending Status Trials

Passage 8371 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A rescript of the Emperor Hadrian stating that a person who claims to be free to avoid being tortured must not be subjected to torture until a trial concerning their status has taken place.

[ULPIANUS libro quinquagensimo quarto ad edictum. ] §48.18.12.prSi quis, ne quaestio de eo agatur, liberum se dicat, diuus Hadrianus rescripsit non esse eum ante torquendum quam liberale iudicium experiatur.
[ULPIANUS, in the fifty-fourth book on the Edict.] If anyone, in order to avoid being subjected to examination under torture, asserts that he is a free man, the deified Hadrian wrote in a rescript that he should not be tortured until he has undergone a trial concerning his freedom.

Notes

  1. §48.18.12.prne quaestio de eo agatur — A purpose clause with the present subjunctive agatur, meaning "lest an examination [under torture] be conducted concerning him." In this legal context, quaestio specifically denotes "interrogation under torture."
  2. §48.18.12.prnon esse eum ante torquendum quam — An accusative with infinitive construction depending on rescripsit, using the gerundive of obligation (torquendum esse), combined with the temporal correlatives ante ... quam ("before ..."). Syntactically, it expresses a negative obligation: "that he should not be tortured before [he undergoes...]."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.18.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.18.12.pr

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