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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.50.pr

Absence of Fault for Those Unable to Prevent an Act

Passage 9110 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

States the principle that a person who is aware of a situation but lacks the power to prevent it is free from fault.

[PAULUS libro trigensimo nono ad edictum. ] §50.17.50.prCulpa caret qui scit, sed prohibere non potest.
[PAULUS, in his thirty-ninth book on the Edict.] He is free from fault who knows, but cannot prevent.

Notes

  1. §50.17.50.prCulpa caret — The verb carere (to lack, to be free from) governs the ablative case, hence culpa (fault) is in the ablative feminine singular. The subject is the entire relative clause starting with qui, with the antecedent is being omitted.
  2. §50.17.50.prprohibere non potest — The object of the transitive verb prohibere (to prevent, to hinder) is omitted as it is understood from the context of this abstract legal maxim.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.50.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.50.pr

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