Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.8.7.pr

Requirement of Intent and Exclusion of Negligence

Passage 8246 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that under the Cornelian law, criminal intent is punished as the deed itself, whereas gross negligence is not equated with intent, meaning accidental deaths do not fall under this law.

[PAULUS libro singulari de publicis iudiciis. ] §48.8.7.prIn lege Cornelia dolus pro facto accipitur.
[PAULUS, On Public Judgments, Single Book] Under the Cornelian law, intent is treated as the deed itself.
neque in hac lege culpa lata pro dolo accipitur.
Nor, under this law, is gross negligence treated as intent.
quare si quis alto se praecipitauerit et super alium uenerit eumque occiderit, aut putator, ex arbore cum ramum deiceret, non praeclamauerit et praetereuntem occiderit, ad huius legis coercitionem non pertinet.
Therefore, if anyone has thrown himself from a high place and fallen upon another and killed him, or if a pruner, when throwing down a branch from a tree, has failed to call out a warning and killed a passerby, he does not come under the penalty of this law.

Notes

  1. §48.8.7.prdolus pro facto accipitur — The preposition `pro` here means "in place of" or "as equivalent to." It indicates that under the Cornelian law, criminal intent (`dolus`) is punished as equivalent to the completed act (`factum`), even if the actual deed is not fully accomplished.
  2. §48.8.7.prnon pertinet — Although an impersonal interpretation ("the case does not pertain") is grammatically possible, it is more natural to understand the subjects of the conditional clauses, `quis` (anyone) and `putator` (a pruner), as the implied subject of `non pertinet` ("he does not fall under the penalty of this law").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.8.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.8.7.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.