[IAUOLENUS libro quinto ex Plautio. ] §50.16.83.prProprie 'bona' dici non possunt, quae plus incommodi quam commodi habent.
[JAVOLENUS, on Plautius, book 5.] Things which have more disadvantage than advantage cannot properly be called 'goods'.
Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.83.pr
Things Yielding More Harm Than Benefit as Goods
Summary
Javolenus argues that things which bring more disadvantage than advantage cannot, in the proper sense of the word, be called 'goods'.
Notes
- §50.16.83.prbona — The neuter plural of the adjective bonus ('good', 'advantageous') used substantively, which in Roman legal terminology means 'property' or 'assets'. Its etymological connection to 'good' is contrasted here with commodi ('advantage') and incommodi ('disadvantage') in the relative clause.
- §50.16.83.prquae plus incommodi quam commodi habent — The demonstrative pronoun (such as ea) serving as the antecedent to the relative pronoun quae is omitted, making the entire relative clause the subject of non possunt with the passive infinitive dici. The words incommodi and commodi are genitives of the part (partitive genitives) in the neuter singular, depending on the comparative plus.
Cite this passage
Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.83.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.83.pr
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