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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.16.93.pr

Meanings of Moving Things and Movables

Passage 8907 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text states that the terms 'moving things' and 'movables' generally mean the same thing, but notes an exception if the deceased specifically used 'moving things' to refer only to animals because they move themselves.

[CELSUS libro nono decimo digestorum. ] §50.16.93.pr'Mouentium', item 'mobilium' appellatione idem significamus: si tamen apparet defunctum animalia dumtaxat, quia se ipsa mouerent, mouentia uocasse. quod uerum est.
[CELSUS, Digests, book 19.] By the designation of 'moving things', and likewise of 'movable things', we mean the same thing: if, however, it appears that the deceased called only animals 'moving things' because they move themselves; and this is true.

Notes

  1. §50.16.93.prdefunctum animalia dumtaxat... mouentia uocasse — An accusative-and-infinitive (AcI) construction functioning as the subject of the impersonal verb apparet. The subject accusative of the infinitive is defunctum (the deceased), the direct object is animalia (animals), and the predicate accusative is mouentia (moving things), meaning 'that the deceased called only animals "moving things"'. vocasse is a contracted form of vocavisse.
  2. §50.16.93.prquia se ipsa mouerent — The imperfect subjunctive mouerent in the causal clause introduced by quia represents the subjective reason of the deceased (defunctum) rather than an objective fact stated by the author (subjunctive of oblique clause / virtual indirect discourse).
  3. §50.16.93.prsi tamen — Here si tamen introduces a restrictive conditional clause, qualifying the general synonymy of 'moving things' and 'movables' by presenting an exceptional case where the deceased had a specific intention.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.16.93.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.16.93.pr

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