Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.15.24.pr

Enemies vs Robbers and the Need for Postliminium

Passage 8596 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains the definitional difference between public enemies and criminals (bandits or robbers) and discusses the differences in legal status, particularly the necessity of postliminium, when captured by each.

[ULPIANUS libro primo institutionum. ] §49.15.24.prHostes sunt, quibus bellum publice populus Romanus decreuit uel ipsi populo Romano: ceteri latrunculi uel praedones appellantur.

[ULPIAN, Book 1 of Institutes] are those against whom the Roman people have publicly declared war, or who themselves have declared war against the Roman people; the others are called bandits or robbers.

et ideo qui a latronibus captus est, seruus latronum non est, nec postliminium illi necessarium est: ab hostibus autem captus, ut puta a Germanis et Parthis, et seruus est hostium et postliminio statum pristinum recuperat.

And therefore, he who has been captured by robbers is not a slave of the robbers, nor is postliminium necessary for him; but he who has been captured by enemies, as for example by the Germans or the Parthians, is both a slave of the enemies and recovers his former status by postliminium.

Notes

49.15.24.pruel ipsi populo Romano — ipsi is nominative plural ('they themselves'), contrasting with the preceding relative clause quibus... decreuit. It implies an omitted clause such as uel qui ipsi populo Romano bellum publice decreuerunt ('or who themselves have publicly declared war against the Roman people').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.15.24.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.15.24.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.