Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.6.2.pr

Protection of Terms for Voluntary Assumption of Duties

Passage 8731 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It regulates that if individuals voluntarily undertook public duties or honors under certain conditions when they otherwise could not have been compelled to do so, those conditions and good faith must be observed.

[IDEM libro quarto de officio proconsulis. ] §50.6.2.prSi qui certa condicione muneribus uel honoribus se adstrinxerunt, cum alias compelli non possent inuiti suscipere istum honorem: fides eis seruanda est condicioque, qua ad munera siue honores applicare se passi sunt.
[THE SAME, in the fourth book on the Office of Proconsul.] If any persons have bound themselves to duties or honors under a certain condition, although otherwise they could not have been compelled to undertake that honor against their will, faith must be kept with them, as well as the condition under which they allowed themselves to be applied to the duties or honors.

Notes

  1. §50.6.2.prSi qui — The form in which the prefix ali- of the indefinite pronoun aliqui is dropped after the conjunction si.
  2. §50.6.2.prcum alias compelli non possent — cum introduces a concessive clause ('although'), and the verb possent is in the imperfect subjunctive. It presents the background circumstance that they originally had no obligation to undertake the duty.
  3. §50.6.2.prfides eis seruanda est — Although used with the gerundive seruanda, the dative eis represents the indirect object ('faith must be kept with them') rather than the agent of the action ('faith must be kept by them'), assuming the municipal authorities or the state as the implied subject who must keep the faith.
  4. §50.6.2.prcondicioque, qua ad munera siue honores applicare se passi sunt — The relative pronoun in the ablative qua ('by/under which') refers back to the antecedent condicio. It functions with the infinitive clause applicare se as the complement of passi sunt (indicative perfect of patior). The verb of the main clause seruanda est is also understood with condicio ('and the condition... must be kept').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.6.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.6.2.pr

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