Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.17.16.pr-49.17.16.1

Dowry, Cousin's Inheritance, and Castrense Peculium

Passage 8634 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains why a dowry given to a filius familias does not belong to the castrense peculium due to the nature of marriage, and why an inheritance left by a paternal cousin without shared military service is not acquired for the castrense peculium due to blood relationship.

[IDEM libro nono decimo responsorum. ] §49.17.16.prDotem filio familias datam uel promissam in peculio castrensi non esse respondi.
[THE SAME in his nineteenth book of Responses.] I answered that a dowry given or promised to a filius familias is not in the castrense peculium.
nec ea res contraria uidebitur ei, quod diui Hadriani temporibus filium familias militem uxori heredem extitisse placuit et hereditatem in castrense peculium habuisse.
And this thing will not seem contrary to the fact that in the times of the divine Hadrian it was approved that a soldier who is a filius familias stood as heir to his wife and held the inheritance in his castrense peculium.
nam hereditas aduenticio iure quaeritur, dos autem matrimonio cohaerens oneribus eius ac liberis communibus, qui sunt in aui familia, confertur.
For an inheritance is acquired by adventitious right, whereas a dowry, cohering with marriage, is contributed to its burdens and to the common children who are in the grandfather's family.
§49.17.16.1Hereditatem castrensi peculio non uideri quaesitam respondi, quam frater patruelis in alia prouincia stipendia merens fratri patrueli, cum quo numquam militauit, reliquit: sanguinis etenim ratio, non militiae causa meritum hereditatis accipiendae praebuerat.
I answered that an inheritance does not seem to have been acquired for the castrense peculium, which a paternal cousin serving in another province left to his paternal cousin with whom he had never served: for the consideration of blood, not the cause of military service, had provided the merit of receiving the inheritance.

Notes

  1. 49.17.16.prcontraria uidebitur ei, quod — The dative demonstrative pronoun `ei` is modified appositively by the `quod` clause expressing a fact ('the fact that...'). Together they mean 'will seem contrary to the fact that...'.
  2. 49.17.16.prfilium familias militem uxori heredem extitisse placuit — The accusative and infinitive clause `filium familias militem... extitisse` serves as the subject of the impersonal verb `placuit` ('it was decided/approved').
  3. 49.17.16.1meritum hereditatis accipiendae — The gerundive `accipiendae` agrees with the noun `hereditatis`, and the entire phrase functions as a genitive modifier of `meritum` ('merit, qualification, ground').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.17.16.pr-49.17.16.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.17.16.pr-49.17.16.1

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.