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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.141.pr

Status of a Mother with Unborn or Captive Children

Passage 8955 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text specifies that a woman who can give birth post-mortem via Caesarean section, or who has a child currently held by enemies but expected to return, is deemed to have a child at the time of her death.

[ULPIANUS libro octauo ad legem Iuliam et Papiam. ] §50.16.141.prEtiam ea mulier cum moreretur creditur filium habere, quae exciso utero edere possit.
[ULPIANUS, from the eighth book on the Lex Iulia et Papia.] Even that woman is believed to have a child when she dies, who can give birth after her womb has been cut open.
nec non etiam alio casu mulier potest habere filium, quem mortis tempore non habuit, ut puta eum qui ab hostibus remeabit.
Furthermore, in another case as well, a woman can have a child whom she did not have at the time of her death, as for instance, one who will return from the enemies.

Notes

  1. §50.16.141.prexciso utero — Ablative absolute (from excisus and uterus). Here it refers to delivering a child by cutting open the womb of a deceased pregnant woman (post-mortem Caesarean section).
  2. §50.16.141.prut puta — An adverbial expression meaning "as for instance" or "for example." The form puta (from putare, to think/suppose) functions introductory to present an example.
  3. §50.16.141.prqui ab hostibus remeabit — The future tense remeabit ("will return") refers to a child who has not yet returned at the time of the mother's death, but who will later return and recover their rights under the doctrine of postliminium.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.141.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.141.pr

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