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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §9.1.5.pr

Owner's Liability for Injury Caused by a Kicking Mule

Passage 1516 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Presents a case where a groom's leg was broken because a mule kicked back after a horse sniffed her, and records Alfenus' opinion that an action for damage caused by an animal (pauperies) can be brought against the owner of the mule.

[ALFENUS libro secundo digestorum. ] §9.1.5.prAgaso cum in tabernam equum deduceret, mulam equus olfecit, mula calcem reiecit et crus agasoni fregit: consulebatur, possetne cum domino mulae agi, quod ea pauperiem fecisset.
[ALFENUS, from the second book of the Digests.] When a groom was leading a horse into a tavern, the horse sniffed at a mule, and the mule kicked out and broke the groom's leg. The question was asked whether an action could be brought against the owner of the mule on the grounds that she had caused damage.
respondi posse.
I answered that it could.

Notes

  1. §9.1.5.pragasoni — A sympathetic dative (dativus sympathicus) associated with the verb fregit (broke), expressing a possessive relationship ('the groom's leg').
  2. §9.1.5.pragi — A passive infinitive used impersonally (the passive equivalent of 'actionem agere', to bring an action), which combined with possetne means 'whether an action could be brought'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §9.1.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:9.1.5.pr

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