Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.215.pr

Multiple Meanings of Power and Physical Control

Passage 9029 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains the multiple meanings of the word 'potestas' (power) in relation to magistrates, children, and slaves, its significance in lawsuits regarding the surrender of a slave for damage, and the Sabinian interpretation concerning the recovery of stolen goods under the Lex Atinia.

[PAULUS libro singulari ad legem Fufiam Caniniam. ] §50.16.215.pr'Potestatis' uerbo plura significantur: in persona magistratuum imperium: in persona liberorum patria potestas: in persona serui dominium.
[PAULUS, in the single book on the Lex Fufia Caninia.] By the word 'potestas', several things are signified: in the person of magistrates, imperium; in the person of children, patria potestas; in the person of a slave, dominium.
at cum agimus de noxae deditione cum eo qui seruum non defendit, praesentis corporis copiam facultatemque significamus.
But when we proceed concerning the surrender of a slave for damage against one who does not defend the slave, we signify the availability and physical control of the body present.
in lege Atinia in potestatem domini rem furtiuam uenisse uideri, et si eius uindicandae potestatem habuerit, Sabinus et Cassius aiunt.
Sabinus and Cassius say that, under the Lex Atinia, a stolen thing is deemed to have come back into the power of the owner even if he has only had the power of reclaiming it.

Notes

  1. 50.16.215.prin persona — The term persona here refers not strictly to legal personality, but more broadly to 'status,' 'capacity,' or 'relationship.' Although slaves (serui) lacked legal personality under Roman law, the word is used symmetrically alongside 'magistrates' and 'children' to denote the specific context or relationship in which the power (in this case, ownership) exists.
  2. 50.16.215.pret si — Here, et si is used in the sense of etiam si ('even if'), rather than as the copulative et with conditional si. It indicates the Sabinian view (held by Sabinus and Cassius) that a stolen object is deemed to have returned to the owner's power (potestas) even if the owner has only obtained the effective legal means or possibility of reclaiming (uindicare) it, without physical recovery.
  3. 50.16.215.preius uindicandae — uindicandae is a gerundive in the genitive feminine singular, agreeing in gender, number, and case with the preceding pronoun eius (referring to the feminine singular rem furtiuam), and depending on potestatem ('the power of...'). Together they express the power or possibility of reclaiming the stolen thing by an action in rem.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.215.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.215.pr

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