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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.20.5.pr-48.20.5.1

Allocation of Dowry and Fate of Marriage upon Wife's Punishment

Passage 8429 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The fragment discusses the allocation of the dowry of a wife who becomes a slave of punishment, and the continuation of marriage and the exercise of dowry claims when a wife is deported.

[ULPIANUS libro trigensimo tertio ad edictum. ] §48.20.5.prSed si alia lege capitis punita sit, quae lex dotem non publicat, quia prius serua poenae efficitur, uerum est dotem mariti lucro cedere, quasi mortua sit.
[ULPIAN, from the Thirty-Third Book on the Edict.] But if she has been punished with a capital penalty under another law, which law does not confiscate the dowry, since she first becomes a slave of punishment, it is true that the dowry falls to the profit of the husband, as if she were dead.
§48.20.5.1Quod si deportata sit filia familias, Marcellus ait, quae sententia et uera est, non utique deportatione dissolui matrimonium: nam cum libera mulier remaneat, nihil prohibet et uirum mariti affectionem et mulierem uxoris animum retinere.
But if a daughter of a family has been deported, Marcellus says—which opinion is also correct—that the marriage is not at all dissolved by deportation; for since the woman remains free, nothing prevents both the husband from retaining his marital affection and the woman her marital intent.
si igitur eo animo mulier fuerit, ut discedere a marito uelit, ait Marcellus tunc patrem de dote acturum.
Therefore, if the woman is of such a mind that she wishes to depart from her husband, Marcellus says that the father will then sue for the dowry.
sed si mater familias sit et interim constante matrimonio fuerit deportata, dotem penes maritum remanere: postea uero dissoluto matrimonio posse eam agere, quasi humanitatis intuitu hodie nata actione.
But if she is a mother of a family and in the meantime has been deported while the marriage is still subsisting, the dowry remains with the husband; but afterwards, when the marriage has been dissolved, she can sue, as if by an action born today out of consideration of humanity.

Notes

  1. §48.20.5.prquasi mortua sit — The conjunction 'quasi' expresses a legal fiction ('as if') and requires the subjunctive (perfect 'sit'). It represents the fiction that the civil death (mors ciuilis) resulting from becoming a slave of punishment (serua poenae) is treated equivalently to physical 'death' in the context of the return of the dowry.
  2. §48.20.5.1eo animo mulier fuerit, ut discedere a marito uelit — 'eo animo' is an ablative of quality, which with the copula 'fuerit' (perfect subjunctive in a conditional 'si' clause) means 'if she is of such a mind.' The 'ut' clause is a consecutive clause correlating with the demonstrative 'eo', employing the present subjunctive 'uelit'.
  3. §48.20.5.1quasi humanitatis intuitu hodie nata actione — 'nata actione' is an ablative absolute consisting of the noun 'actione' and the participle 'nata', or an ablative of means. 'quasi' modifies this entire ablative phrase, indicating a fictional exercise of an action, as if 'by an action born today out of consideration of humanity', granted specially to meet a new situation.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.20.5.pr-48.20.5.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.20.5.pr-48.20.5.1

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