[ULPIANUS libro trigensimo sexto ad Sabinum. ] §50.17.30.prNuptias non concubitus, sed consensus facit.
[ULPIANUS, in his thirty-sixth book on Sabinus.] It is not cohabitation, but consent, that makes a marriage.
Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.30.pr
Consent Rather Than Cohabitation as Making a Marriage
Summary
Declares that the essential element in establishing a marriage is the consent of the parties, rather than their physical cohabitation.
Notes
- §50.17.30.prNuptias non concubitus, sed consensus facit — Nuptias (the accusative plural of the feminine noun nuptiae) is placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis as the direct object of the verb facit. The subject consists of the contrasting pair non concubitus, sed consensus (both fourth-declension nominative singular nouns), and the verb facit (third-person singular present) agrees with the closer subject consensus.
Cite this passage
Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.30.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.30.pr
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