Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.55.pr

Absence of Fraud in the Lawful Exercise of a Right

Passage 9115 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment states the legal principle that the legitimate exercise of one's own right is not deemed to constitute malicious intent or deceit.

[GAIUS libro secundo de testamentis ad edictum urbicum. ] §50.17.55.prNullus uidetur dolo facere, qui suo iure utitur.
[GAIUS, in his second book on testaments with reference to the Edict of the City.] No one is deemed to act with deceit who exercises his own right.

Notes

  1. §50.17.55.prNullus uidetur — The verb uidetur (passive of uideo) is used here in a personal construction with the infinitive (dolo facere) meaning "is deemed to" or "is considered to." The subject nullus acts as the antecedent of the relative clause qui..., resulting in the structure: "No one [who...] is deemed to act with deceit."
  2. §50.17.55.prdolo — Ablative singular of dolus (malicious intent, deceit, fraud). It modifies facere, expressing manner or cause ("to act with malice" or "to commit fraud"). In Roman law, dolus is the conceptual opposite of bona fides (good faith).
  3. §50.17.55.prsuo iure utitur — The deponent verb utor (to use, exercise) governs the ablative case, taking suo iure (ablative of suum ius, "one's own right") as its object.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.55.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.55.pr

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