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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.24.1.pr

Release and Burial of the Bodies of Executed Criminals

Passage 8462 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It discusses the principles regarding the release and burial of the bodies of executed criminals, citing the precedent of Augustus, outlining the current requirement of petition and permission, and addressing the case of those condemned to be burned.

[ULPIANUS libro nono de officio proconsulis. ] §48.24.1.prCorpora eorum qui capite damnantur cognatis ipsorum neganda non sunt: et id se obseruasse etiam diuus Augustus libro decimo de uita sua scribit.
[ULPIANUS, from his Ninth Book on the Office of Proconsul.] The bodies of those who are condemned to death must not be denied to their relatives: and the divine Augustus also writes in the tenth book of his autobiography that he himself observed this.
hodie autem eorum, in quos animaduertitur, corpora non aliter sepeliuntur, quam si fuerit petitum et permissum, et nonnumquam non permittitur, maxime maiestatis causa damnatorum.
Today, however, the bodies of those who are executed are not buried otherwise than if it has been requested and permitted, and sometimes it is not permitted, especially in the case of those condemned for treason.
eorum quoque corpora, qui exurendi damnantur, peti possunt, scilicet ut ossa et cineres collecta sepulturae tradi possint.
The bodies of those also who are condemned to be burned can be requested, obviously so that their bones and ashes, having been collected, can be committed to burial.

Notes

  1. §48.24.1.pranimaduertitur — The verb animaduertere (to turn one's attention to), when combined with the preposition in and the accusative, forms a legal idiom meaning "to punish" or "to execute." Here, the passive voice is used impersonally (animaduertitur), meaning "punishment/execution is carried out."
  2. §48.24.1.prexurendi — The masculine nominative plural of the gerundive (future passive participle) of exuro (to burn up, to condemn to the flames). Together with the verb, the clause qui exurendi damnantur means "those who are condemned to be burned," where the gerundive acts as a complement to the verb of condemnation damno to specify the method of punishment.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.24.1.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.24.1.pr

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