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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.17.pr-50.16.17.1

City Property in Public Things and Definition of Public Taxes

Passage 8831 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that 'public property' includes the goods of municipalities rather than sacred objects, and defines 'public taxes' as those yielding revenue to the imperial treasury, providing specific examples.

[ULPIANUS libro decimo ad edictum. ] §50.16.17.prInter 'publica' habemus non sacra nec religiosa nec quae publicis usibus destinata sunt: sed si qua sunt ciuitatium uelut bona.
[ULPIAN, in the tenth book on the Edict.] Under 'public property' we class not sacred or religious things, nor those which have been destined for public uses, but rather such things as belong to cities, for instance, their goods.
sed peculia seruorum ciuitatium procul dubio publica habentur.
But the peculia of slaves belonging to cities are without doubt held to be public.
' §50.16.17.1Publica' uectigalia intellegere debemus, ex quibus uectigal fiscus capit: quale est uectigal portus uel uenalium rerum, item salinarum et metallorum et picariarum.
We ought to understand 'public' taxes as those from which the fiscus receives revenue; such as the tax on ports, or on goods offered for sale, and likewise those of salt-works, mines, and pitch-factories.

Notes

  1. §50.16.17.prnon sacra nec religiosa nec quae publicis usibus destinata sunt: sed si qua sunt ciuitatium uelut bona — This section functions as the object of the transitive verb habemus in a "not A but B" structure. The relative pronoun si qua (neuter plural of siquis) implies its antecedent ea, meaning "such things, if any, as belong to cities." While responding to Gaius' statement in the previous fragment that cities are in the position of private individuals, Ulpian clarifies here that municipal property is classed under 'public property'.
  2. §50.16.17.1salinarum et metallorum et picariarum — These are all genitive plurals of feminine nouns, with the preceding noun uectigal (tax) understood as being omitted before each. That is, they refer to uectigal salinarum (tax on salt-works), uectigal metallorum (tax on mines), and uectigal picariarum (tax on pitch-factories).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.17.pr-50.16.17.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.17.pr-50.16.17.1

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