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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.155.pr-50.17.155.2

Individual Liability, Lawful Rights, and Leniency in Penal Cases

Passage 9215 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text from Paulus states that a person's actions should only affect themselves, that exercising rights through normal legal channels is not considered force, and that penal cases require a more lenient interpretation.

[PAULUS libro sexagensimo quinto ad edictum. ] §50.17.155.prFactum cuique suum, non aduersario nocere debet. §50.17.155.1Non uidetur uim facere, qui iure suo utitur et ordinaria actione experitur. §50.17.155.2In poenalibus causis benignius interpretandum est.
[PAULUS, in the sixty-fifth book on the edict.]\n\nEach person's own deed ought to harm himself, not his adversary.\n\nHe does not seem to use force who exercises his own right and sues by an ordinary action.\n\nIn penal cases, it should be interpreted more leniently.

Notes

  1. §50.17.155.prFactum cuique suum — cuique is a dative, which, together with the possessive adjective suum, expresses 'each person's own act'. Structurally, a phrase like sibi nocere debet (ought to harm oneself) is understood as omitted after Factum cuique suum, standing in contrast with the subsequent non aduersario nocere debet.
  2. §50.17.155.1ordinaria actione experitur — experitur is the third-person singular present indicative of the deponent verb experior (to try, to go to law). Here it means 'to seek a remedy at law'. ordinaria actione is an ablative of means, meaning 'by an ordinary action'.
  3. §50.17.155.2benignius interpretandum est — interpretandum est is an impersonal passive periphrastic construction (gerundive with est expressing obligation or necessity). benignius is the comparative neuter singular of the adjective benignus, used adverbially here to mean 'more leniently' or 'more favorably'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.155.pr-50.17.155.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.155.pr-50.17.155.2

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