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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.124.pr-50.17.124.1

Declarations by the Deaf and Mute and Absence of the Insane

Passage 9184 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus's views on the conditions under which mute or deaf persons can be deemed to make a response, and on how a madman is legally treated as an absent person.

[PAULUS libro sexto decimo ad edictum. ] §50.17.124.prUbi non uoce, sed praesentia opus est, mutus, si intellectum habet, potest uideri respondere.
[PAULUS, in the sixteenth book on the edict.] Where not speech but presence is required, a mute person, if he has understanding, can be deemed to answer.
idem in surdo: hic quidem et respondere potest.
The same applies to a deaf person; for he indeed can even answer.
§50.17.124.1Furiosus absentis loco est et ita Pomponius libro primo epistularum scribit.
A madman is in the position of an absent person, and Pomponius writes thus in the first book of his Epistles.

Notes

  1. §50.17.124.pruoce, sed praesentia opus est — The impersonal expression `opus est` (there is need of) takes the ablative of the thing needed (here, `uoce` and `praesentia`).
  2. §50.17.124.prpotest uideri respondere — `uideri` is the passive infinitive of `uideo` (to see), used here in the copulative sense 'to seem' or 'to be deemed'. The subject is `mutus`, and with `respondere` (to answer), it forms a personal construction ('he can be deemed to answer').
  3. §50.17.124.1absentis loco est — The ablative `loco` (in the place/position of) is used without a preposition to mean 'in the position of' or 'regarded as,' modified by the genitive `absentis` (of an absent person).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.124.pr-50.17.124.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.124.pr-50.17.124.1

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