Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.15.20.pr-49.15.20.2

Loss of Postliminium by Choice, Recovered Land, and Ransom

Passage 8592 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text explains the loss of postliminium for a captive who remains with the enemy by choice despite a treaty provision, the reversion of ownership of land recovered from the enemy, and the effect of redemption on the right of postliminium.

[POMPONIUS libro trigensimo sexto ad Sabinum. ] §49.15.20.prSi captiuus, de quo in pace cautum fuerat ut rediret, sua uoluntate apud hostes mansit, non est ei postea postliminium.
[POMPONIUS, Book 36 on Sabinus] If a captive, concerning whom it had been provided in the peace treaty that he should return, has remained with the enemy of his own free will, he does not have postliminium afterwards.
§49.15.20.1Uerum est expulsis hostibus ex agris quos ceperint dominia eorum ad priores dominos redire nec aut publicari aut praedae loco cedere: publicatur enim ille ager qui ex hostibus captus sit.
It is true that, when the enemy has been expelled from the lands which they had captured, the ownership of them returns to their former owners, and is neither confiscated to the state nor treated as booty; for only that land is confiscated which has been captured from the enemy.
§49.15.20.2Redemptio facultatem redeundi praebet, non ius postlimini mutat.
Redemption affords the opportunity of returning, but it does not alter the right of postliminium.

Notes

  1. §49.15.20.prcautum fuerat ut rediret — The pluperfect passive impersonal form cautum fuerat of the intransitive verb caveo (to provide, stipulate) is followed by the noun clause ut rediret (that he should return), which expresses the content of the stipulation.
  2. §49.15.20.1expulsis hostibus — This is an ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun hostibus and the perfect participle expulsis in the ablative case, corresponding to a temporal clause ('when the enemy has been expelled').
  3. §49.15.20.1redire — The infinitive in the accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction, serving as the subject of the impersonal expression uerum est ('it is true that...'). The subject accusative is dominia (ownership), and eorum is a genitive referring back to the preceding agris (lands).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.15.20.pr-49.15.20.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.15.20.pr-49.15.20.2

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.