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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.2.8.pr

Persons Barred from Bringing Accusations

Passage 8135 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Macer discusses who is eligible to bring an accusation by defining those who are barred from doing so due to gender, age, military status, holding office, past misconduct, illicit gain, or legal status.

[MACER libro secundo de publicis iudiciis. ] §48.2.8.prQui accusare possunt, intellegemus, si scierimus, qui non possunt.
[MACER, on Public Judgments, Book 2] We shall understand who can accuse, if we know who cannot.
itaque prohibentur accusare alii propter sexum uel aetatem, ut mulier, ut pupillus: alii propter sacramentum, ut qui stipendium merent: alii propter magistratum potestatemue, in qua agentes sine fraude in ius euocari non possunt: alii propter delictum proprium, ut infames: alii propter turpem quaestum, ut qui duo iudicia aduersus duos reos subscripta habent nummosue ob accusandum uel non accusandum acceperint: alii propter condicionem suam, ut libertini contra patronos:
Therefore, some are prohibited from accusing on account of sex or age, such as a woman or a ward; others on account of the military oath, such as those who are earning pay (active soldiers); others on account of a magistracy or power, while holding which they cannot be summoned to court without liability; others on account of their own misconduct, such as the infamous; others on account of shameful gain, such as those who have two signed prosecutions pending against two defendants, or who have accepted money for accusing or not accusing; others on account of their status, such as freedmen against their patrons.

Notes

  1. §48.2.8.prsi scierimus — The future perfect (scierimus) in the conditional clause expresses an action prior to the simple future (intellegemus) of the main clause. It establishes a logical sequence: once we have fully come to know who cannot, we will then understand who can.
  2. §48.2.8.prsine fraude — This is a technical legal phrase in classical Roman law meaning 'without liability,' 'without penalty,' or 'without breach of duty/lawfulness,' rather than 'without fraud' in the modern sense. It indicates that summoning magistrates in office to court cannot be done legally or without violating status protections.
  3. §48.2.8.prsubscripta habent — This is a periphrastic construction combining habeo with the perfect passive participle (habent subscripta). Unlike a simple perfect tense, it emphasizes the ongoing state of possession: 'they currently hold two prosecutions that have been signed.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.2.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.2.8.pr

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