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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.19.26.pr

Principle That a Father's Crime Does Not Stain His Son

Passage 8407 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It is stated, alongside an imperial rescript, that a father's crime or punishment cannot stain his son, establishing the principle that criminal liability is strictly personal and based on one's own actions.

[CALLISTRATUS libro primo de cognitionibus. ] §48.19.26.prCrimen uel poena paterna nullam maculam filio infligere potest: namque unusquisque ex suo admisso sorti subicitur nec alieni criminis successor constituitur, idque diui fratres Hierapolitanis rescripserunt.
[CALLISTRATUS, from the first book on Extraordinary Trials.] A father’s crime or punishment can inflict no stain upon his son; for everyone is subjected to his fate based on his own misdeed, and is not established as the successor to another’s crime, and this is what the divine brothers replied by rescript to the citizens of Hierapolis.

Notes

  1. §48.19.26.prsorti — The dative singular of the third-declension noun sors (fate, lot, destiny), serving as the indirect object of the passive verb subicitur. Here it denotes that each individual faces the "fate" or "legal consequence" resulting from their own misdeeds (ex suo admisso), rather than those of others.
  2. §48.19.26.prsuccessor — A nominative complement meaning "successor" or "heir," utilizing a metaphor from the private law of inheritance (successio). It emphasizes that criminal liability (crimen), unlike private obligations, is not transmitted to heirs by succession, illustrating the principle of the individuality of punishment.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.19.26.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.19.26.pr

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