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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.200.pr

Choosing the Least Injustice When Harm Is Unavoidable

Passage 9260 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text states the legal principle that when some disadvantage is unavoidable in resolving a matter, the option with the least unfairness must be chosen.

[IDEM libro septimo epistularum. ] §50.17.200.prQuotiens nihil sine captione inuestigari potest, eligendum est quod minimum habeat iniquitatis.
[THE SAME, in his seventh book of Epistles.] Whenever nothing can be investigated without some disadvantage, that which has the least unfairness must be chosen.

Notes

  1. §50.17.200.prcaptione — Amiting the ablative singular of the noun captio (seizure, fraud, disadvantage, loss). Coupled with the preposition sine, it means "without disadvantage". In legal texts, it frequently refers to prejudice or legal detriment incurred by a party.
  2. §50.17.200.preligendum est quod — eligendum is the gerundive (neuter singular) of the verb eligo (to choose). Used impersonally with est to express necessity or obligation ("it must be chosen"). The antecedent of the relative pronoun quod (such as the neuter pronoun id) is omitted, making the entire quod-clause the logical subject.
  3. §50.17.200.prminimum habeat iniquitatis — iniquitatis is the genitive singular of the feminine noun iniquitas (unfairness, inequity). It functions as a partitive genitive dependent on the substantively used neuter adjective minimum, literally meaning "the minimum of unfairness". The subjunctive habeat is a subjunctive of characteristic in the relative clause.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.200.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.200.pr

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