Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.1.36.pr-5.1.36.1

Grounds for Postponing a Trial and a Senator's Duty to Defend

Passage 917 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text explains the just grounds for postponing extraordinary proceedings, citing an imperial rescript, and presents Julian's opinion on a senator's obligation to defend an action when voluntarily managing another's affairs in a province.

[CALLISTRATUS libro primo cognitionum. ] §5.1.36.prInterdum ex iustis causis et ex certis personis sustinendae sunt cognitiones: ueluti si instrumenta litis apud eos esse dicantur qui rei publicae causa aberunt: idque diui fratres in haec uerba rescripserunt. humanum est propter fortuitos casus dilationem accipi, ueluti quod pater litigator filium uel filiam uel uxor uirum uel filius parentem amiserit, et in similibus causis cognitionem ad aliquem modum sustineri. §5.1.36.1Senator si negotiis alienis se optulerit in prouincia, non debet iudicium recusare negotiorum gestorum, sed actionem eum excipere oportere Iulianus respondit, cum sua sponte sibi hanc obligationem contraxerit.
[CALLISTRATUS, Extraordinary Proceedings, Book I.] Sometimes, hearings must be postponed for just causes and on account of certain persons: for example, if the documents of the lawsuit are said to be in the possession of those who will be absent on public business; and the Divine Brothers replied to this effect in these words: "It is humane that a postponement be granted on account of accidental events, as when a litigant father has lost a son or a daughter, or a wife her husband, or a son his parent, and that in similar cases the hearing be suspended to some extent." Julian answered that if a senator has voluntarily undertaken the affairs of another in a province, he ought not to refuse a trial for unauthorized agency, but that he must defend the action, since he has of his own free will contracted this obligation for himself.

Notes

  1. §5.1.36.prhumanum est propter fortuitos casus dilationem accipi ... et in similibus causis cognitionem ad aliquem modum sustineri — Two accusative-with-infinitive (Accusativus cum Infinitivo) clauses, `dilationem accipi` and `cognitionem ... sustineri`, are coordinated by `et` as the subjects of the impersonal expression `humanum est`. The intermediate clause `ueluti quod...` is a subordinate clause that provides concrete examples of the accidental events for the first infinitive clause.
  2. §5.1.36.1Senator si negotiis alienis se optulerit in prouincia, non debet iudicium recusare negotiorum gestorum, sed actionem eum excipere oportere Iulianus respondit — There is a grammatical anacoluthon: the sentence starts with the nominative subject `Senator` and the indicative verb `non debet`, but after `sed`, it abruptly transitions into an accusative-with-infinitive construction (`actionem eum excipere oportere`, where `eum` is the accusative subject of `oportere`) governed by the main verb `Iulianus respondit` at the end. Syntactically, the entire sentence should have been uniformly structured as indirect speech governed by `Iulianus respondit`.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.1.36.pr-5.1.36.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.1.36.pr-5.1.36.1

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.