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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.7.3.pr-48.7.3.2

Liability for Gathering Accomplices and Unlawful Seizure

Passage 8234 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage states that the status and affiliation of those gathered for violence are irrelevant, and that the participants themselves are equally liable; furthermore, the law applies if property is unlawfully taken, even if no one was gathered or beaten.

[MACER libro primo publicorum. ] §48.7.3.prnec interest, liberos an seruos et suos an alienos quis ad uim faciendam conuocauerit.
[MACER, Public Prosecutions, Book 1] And it makes no difference whether someone has gathered free persons or slaves, and whether his own or those of another, to commit violence.
§48.7.3.1Nec minus hi, qui conuocati sunt, eadem lege tenentur.
No less are those who have been gathered held liable under the same law.
§48.7.3.2Sed si nulli conuocati nullique pulsati sint, per iniuriam tamen ex bonis alienis quid ablatum sit, hac lege teneri eum qui id fecerit.
But if no one has been gathered and no one has been struck, yet something has nevertheless been unlawfully taken from another's property, it is held that he who did this is liable under this law.

Notes

  1. §48.7.3.prliberos an seruos et suos an alienos — The contrast between 'free persons or slaves' (liberos an seruos) and 'one's own or another's' (suos an alienos) forms a double indirect alternative question connected by 'et'. In this context, 'suos' and 'alienos' refer broadly to dependents/relatives (for free persons) or to household/foreign slaves (for slaves).
  2. §48.7.3.2hac lege teneri eum qui id fecerit — The verb 'teneri' is an infinitive in an accusative-and-infinitive construction, indicating indirect speech where a main verb of thinking or saying (e.g., 'it is held' or 'Macer writes') is omitted. The verb 'fecerit' in the relative clause is in the subjunctive perfect due to suboblique clause constraints in indirect speech.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.7.3.pr-48.7.3.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.7.3.pr-48.7.3.2

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