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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.15.18.pr

Presumption of Death at Capture for Non-Returning Captives

Passage 8590 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian discusses the legal principle that a captive who does not return from the enemy is deemed to have died at the moment of capture (the fiction of the Lex Cornelia).

[ULPIANUS libro trigensimo quinto ad Sabinum. ] §49.15.18.prIn omnibus partibus iuris is, qui reuersus non est ab hostibus, quasi tunc decessisse uidetur, cum captus est.
[ULPIANUS, Book 35 on Sabinus] In all branches of the law, he who has not returned from the enemy is deemed to have died at the exact time when he was captured.

Notes

  1. §49.15.18.prquasi tunc decessisse uidetur, cum captus est — Expresses the legal fiction (the so-called fictio legis Corneliae) that the captive "is deemed (uidetur) to have died (decessisse) at the very time (tunc) when he was captured (cum captus est)." decessisse is the perfect infinitive of decedere (to die).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.15.18.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.15.18.pr

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