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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.132.pr-50.16.132.1

Reaching One Year of Age and Delivery After Mother's Death

Passage 8946 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the interpretation of the calendar where a person dying on the last day of the year is admitted as one year old, and on the legal rule that a woman from whom a child is cut after her death is not considered to have given birth.

[PAULUS libro tertio ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §50.16.132.prAnniculus' amittitur, qui extremo anni die moritur.
[PAULUS, from the third book on the Lex Iulia et Papia.]\n\nHe who dies on the last day of the year is admitted as 'one year old'.
et consuetudo loquendi id ita esse declarat: 'ante diem decimum kalendarum', 'post diem decimum kalendarum': neutro enim sermone undecim dies significantur. §50.16.132.1Falsum est eam peperisse, cui mortuae filius exsectus est.
And the custom of speech declares that this is so: 'the tenth day before the kalends', 'the tenth day after the kalends'; for in neither expression are eleven days signified.\n\nIt is false that she has given birth, from whom, after her death, a son was cut out.

Notes

  1. §50.16.132.pramittitur — Although the manuscripts read amittitur ("is lost" or "is sent away"), the context and the legal sense (granting the legal status of a one-year-old even to one who dies on the last day of the year) suggest that it is a scribal error for admittitur ("is admitted" or "is allowed"). This translation follows the latter reading.
  2. §50.16.132.prante diem decimum kalendarum — An example illustrating the Roman method of inclusive counting. Since the starting point (the Kalends, i.e., the first day of the following month) is included in the count, the "tenth day before" actually refers to 9 days prior. This phrase accounts for exactly ten days, not eleven, demonstrating how the final day of a period is counted toward its completion, thereby justifying why someone dying on the last day of the year is considered to have completed the year.
  3. §50.16.132.1cui mortuae — Consists of the dative relative pronoun cui and the agreeing dative participle mortuae. It functions as a dative of separation or reference, meaning "from whom, after she was dead."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.132.pr-50.16.132.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.132.pr-50.16.132.1

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