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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.15.4.pr

Return of Surrendered Persons and Citizenship

Passage 8575 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Modestinus affirms that those captured or surrendered to the enemy return by the right of postliminium, and addresses the debate between Brutus and Scaevola regarding the citizenship of a surrendered person who returned but was not accepted, concluding that such a person does not acquire citizenship.

[MODESTINUS libro tertio regularum. ] §49.15.4.prEos, qui ab hostibus capiuntur uel hostibus deduntur, iure postliminii reuerti antiquitus placuit.
[MODESTINUS, from the Third Book of Rules.] It was approved in ancient times that those who are captured by the enemy or delivered to the enemy should return by the right of postliminium.
an qui hostibus deditus reuersus nec a nobis receptus ciuis Romanus sit, inter Brutum et Scaeuolam uarie tractatum est: et consequens est, ut ciuitatem non adipiscatur.
Whether one who was delivered to the enemy and returned, but was not received by us, is a Roman citizen, was variously discussed between Brutus and Scaevola; and the logical consequence is that he does not acquire citizenship.

Notes

  1. §49.15.4.pran qui hostibus deditus reuersus nec a nobis receptus ciuis Romanus sit — The clause from an to sit is an indirect question functioning as the subject of the impersonal passive tractatum est ("it was discussed"). Within this clause, the subject qui (a relative pronoun with an implied antecedent) is modified chronologically by three participles: deditus (past passive), reuersus (deponent past), and receptus (past passive).
  2. §49.15.4.prconsequens est, ut ciuitatem non adipiscatur — The impersonal expression consequens est ("it is a logical consequence") takes a noun clause introduced by ut with the subjunctive (here adipiscatur, present subjunctive of the deponent verb adipiscor) as its subject.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.15.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.15.4.pr

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