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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.19.12.pr

Status of the Condemned and Becoming Slaves of Punishment

Passage 8393 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that the status of the condemned is determined solely by the sentence itself, not by the type of trial or nature of the crime, and that those sentenced to death or thrown to wild beasts immediately become slaves of punishment.

[MACER libro secundo de officio praesidis. ] §48.19.12.prQuod ad statum damnatorum pertinet, nihil interest, iudicium publicum fuerit nec ne: nam sola sententia, non genus criminis spectatur.
[MACER, from the second book on the Office of the Governor.] Regarding the status of the condemned, it makes no difference whether the trial was public or not; for only the sentence, not the nature of the crime, is regarded.
itaque hi, in quos animaduerti iubetur quiue ad bestias dantur, confestim poenae serui fiunt.
Therefore, those against whom execution is ordered, or who are given to wild beasts, immediately become slaves of the punishment.

Notes

  1. §48.19.12.prQuod ad statum damnatorum pertinet — The relative pronoun quod with the preposition ad forms an introductory limiting clause meaning "as far as ... is concerned" or "regarding ...".
  2. §48.19.12.prnihil interest, iudicium publicum fuerit nec ne — The impersonal verb interest governs the indirect double question iudicium publicum fuerit nec ne (whether the trial was public or not), using the perfect subjunctive fuerit, with nihil functioning adverbially as "not at all".
  3. §48.19.12.prin quos animaduerti iubetur — The passive infinitive animaduerti (here, to be executed) is used in an impersonal passive construction ("that execution be carried out against someone") and serves as the subject of the passive verb iubetur.
  4. §48.19.12.prpoenae serui — A technical legal status in Roman law ("slaves of punishment"), referring to those condemned to death or hard labor in the mines, who became slaves not to any individual master but to the punishment itself, resulting in the total loss of civil rights.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.19.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.19.12.pr

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