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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.15.26.pr

Conditions for Postliminium and Manner of Return

Passage 8598 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Florentinus states that the manner of a captive's return—whether by release, force, or guile—does not affect the postliminium, provided they return with no intention of going back, and adds that those recovered upon the enemy's defeat are also deemed to have returned by postliminium.

[FLORENTINUS libro sexto institutionum. ] §49.15.26.prNihil interest, quomodo captiuus reuersus est, utrum dimissus an ui uel fallacia potestatem hostium euaserit, ita tamen, si ea mente uenerit, ut non illo reuerteretur: nec enim satis est corpore domum quem redisse, si mente alienus est.
[FLORENTINUS, Book 6 of Institutes] makes no difference how a captive has returned, whether he was released or escaped the power of the enemy by force or by guile, provided, however, that he has come with the intention of not returning there; for it is not enough for someone to have returned home in body, if he is estranged in mind.
sed et qui uictis hostibus recuperantur, postliminio redisse existimantur.
But those also who are recovered when the enemy is defeated are considered to have returned by postliminium.

Notes

  1. 49.15.26.prita tamen, si — An idiomatic expression indicating a restrictive condition, meaning "provided, however, that" or "only on the condition that".
  2. 49.15.26.prillo — An adverb of direction meaning "to that place" (thither), referring in this context to the hostile territory where the captive had been held.
  3. 49.15.26.prquem — The indefinite pronoun quem (equivalent to aliquem, "someone") serving as the subject accusative of the infinitive redisse in the accusative-with-infinitive construction depending on satis est.
  4. 49.15.26.pruictis hostibus — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun hostibus and the perfect participle uictis, expressing the cause or circumstance ("when the enemy is defeated").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.15.26.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.15.26.pr

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