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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.13.5.pr-50.13.5.3

Extraordinary Proceedings and the Loss of Reputation

Passage 8802 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Callistratus lists four main areas for extraordinary proceedings (public offices/duties, pecuniary matters, reputation, and capital crimes), defines reputation (existimatio), and explains the specific criminal scenarios in which it is either diminished or extinguished.

[CALLISTRATUS libro primo de cognitionibus. ] §50.13.5.prCognitionum numerus cum ex uariis causis descendat, in genera diuidi facile non potest, nisi summatim diuidatur.
[CALLISTRATUS, in the first book on extraordinary proceedings.] Since the number of extraordinary proceedings derives from various causes, it cannot easily be divided into classes, unless it is divided summarily.
numerus ergo cognitionum in quattuor fere genera diuidi potest: aut enim de honoribus siue muneribus gerendis agitatur, aut de re pecuniaria disceptatur, aut de existimatione alicuius cognoscitur, aut de capitali crimine quaeritur.
Therefore, the number of extraordinary proceedings can be divided into approximately four classes: for it is either a matter of holding public offices or performing public duties, or a dispute over a pecuniary matter, or an inquiry into someone's status of reputation, or an investigation into a capital crime.
Existimatio est dignitatis inlaesae §50.13.5.1status, legibus ac moribus comprobatus, qui ex delicto nostro auctoritate legum aut minuitur aut consumitur.
Status of reputation is, of intact dignity, the condition, approved by laws and customs, which is either diminished or extinguished by the authority of the laws on account of our wrongdoing.
§50.13.5.2Minuitur existimatio, quotiens manente libertate circa statum dignitatis poena plectimur: sicuti cum relegatur quis uel cum ordine mouetur uel cum prohibetur honoribus publicis fungi uel cum plebeius fustibus caeditur uel in opus publicum datur uel cum in eam causam quis incidit, quae edicto perpetuo infamiae causa enumeratur.
Reputation is diminished as often as, while freedom remains, we are punished with respect to our condition of dignity: just as when someone is relegated, or when one is removed from their order, or when one is prohibited from performing public offices, or when a plebeian is beaten with rods, or is sentenced to public labor, or when someone falls into that situation which is enumerated as a cause of infamy in the perpetual edict.
§50.13.5.3Consumitur uero, quotiens magna capitis minutio interuenit, id est cum libertas adimitur: ueluti cum aqua et igni interdicitur, quae in persona deportatorum euenit, uel cum plebeius in opus metalli uel in metallum datur: nihil enim refert, nec diuersa poena est operis et metalli, nisi quod refugae operis non morte, sed poena metalli subiciuntur.
But it is extinguished as often as a major loss of status occurs, that is, when freedom is taken away: such as when one is interdicted from water and fire, which occurs in the person of deported individuals, or when a plebeian is sentenced to labor in the mines or to the mines; for it makes no difference, nor is the punishment of labor and that of the mines different, except that runaways from labor are subjected not to death, but to the punishment of the mines.

Notes

  1. 50.13.5.prcum ex uariis causis descendat — The cum clause with the subjunctive descendat here expresses the cause or reason for the difficulty in classifying extraordinary proceedings ("since it derives from various causes"). While it can carry a concessive nuance, its primary function is to provide the ground for the assertion in the main clause.
  2. 50.13.5.prExistimatio est dignitatis inlaesae — Due to the section division in the manuscripts, the subject and the genitive phrase of the definition (Existimatio est dignitatis inlaesae) are placed at the end of §50.13.5.pr, while the noun being modified, status (along with the relative clause), appears at the beginning of the next section, §50.13.5.1. Syntactically, they form a single sentence: "Existimatio est status dignitatis inlaesae" (Reputation is the condition of intact dignity).
  3. 50.13.5.2manente libertate — This is an ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun libertas and the present participle manente. It functions as a condition or attendant circumstance ("while freedom remains" or "freedom being preserved"), establishing the distinguishing criterion between the "diminution" (minutio) and "extinction" (consumptio) of one's reputation.
  4. 50.13.5.3aqua et igni interdicitur — An impersonal passive construction with the ablatives aqua et igni (water and fire). This is an idiomatic expression for the ancient banishment involving the deprivation of civic rights ("someone is interdicted from water and fire"). Here, it practically refers to a penalty equivalent to deportation (deportatio) in the imperial period.
  5. 50.13.5.3quae in persona deportatorum euenit — The relative pronoun quae (neuter plural, or potentially referring by attraction to the feminine concept of interdictio) refers to the entire preceding clause aqua et igni interdicitur (being interdicted from water and fire). It functions to explain that this particular legal consequence "befalls those who have been deported."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.13.5.pr-50.13.5.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.13.5.pr-50.13.5.3

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