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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.12.13.pr-50.12.13.1

Duty of Construction for Office and Validity of Donation Terms

Passage 8795 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Based on the rescripts of the Emperors Antoninus and Verus, this section outlines that those who promised a work for a public office must build it rather than pay money, and that conditions on donations to the state are valid only if they benefit the public.

[PAPIRIUS IUSTUS libro secundo de constitutionibus. ] §50.12.13.prImperatores Antoninus et Uerus Augusti rescripserunt opera exstruere debere eos, qui pro honore polliciti sunt, non pecunias pro his inferre cogi.
[PAPIRIUS IUSTUS, in the second book on Constitutions.] The Emperors Antoninus and Verus, Augusti, replied by rescript that those who have promised a work in return for a public office ought to construct the work, and not be compelled to pay money instead of it.
§50.12.13.1Item rescripserunt condiciones donationibus adpositas, quae in rem publicam fiunt, ita demum ratas esse, si utilitatis publicae interest: quod si damnosae sint, obseruari non debere.
Likewise they replied by rescript that conditions attached to donations made to the state are only valid if it is of public utility; but if they are disadvantageous, they ought not to be observed.
et ideo non obseruandum, quod defunctus certa summa legata uetuit uectigal exerceri.
And therefore, that which the deceased forbade—namely, that a tax be collected—after bequeathing a certain sum, is not to be observed.
esse enim tolerabilia, quae uetus consuetudo comprobat.
For those things are tolerable which ancient custom approves.

Notes

  1. §50.12.13.1utilitatis publicae interest — The impersonal verb "interest" means "to be of importance/interest to" and takes the genitive (here, "utilitatis publicae") to denote the party or thing concerned.
  2. §50.12.13.1non obseruandum, quod defunctus certa summa legata uetuit uectigal exerceri — The "quod" clause ("defunctus ... exerceri") functions as the subject of the passive periphrastic "non obseruandum [esse]". "certa summa legata" is an ablative absolute structure, meaning "a certain sum having been bequeathed".
  3. §50.12.13.1esse enim tolerabilia, quae uetus consuetudo comprobat — The clause introduced by the relative pronoun "quae" (neuter plural) serves as the subject in the accusative with infinitive construction (with the main verb "rescripserunt" understood from the context), agreeing in gender and number with the predicate adjective "tolerabilia".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.12.13.pr-50.12.13.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.12.13.pr-50.12.13.1

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