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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §9.2.1.pr-9.2.1.1

Enactment of the Lex Aquilia and Repeal of Prior Laws

Passage 1517 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that the Lex Aquilia superseded all previous laws concerning unlawful damage and clarifies that this law was a plebiscite proposed by the tribune of the plebs, Aquilius.

[ULPIANUS libro octauo decimo ad edictum. ] §9.2.1.prLex Aquilia omnibus legibus, quae ante se de damno iniuria locutae sunt, derogauit, siue duodecim tabulis, siue alia quae fuit: quas leges nunc referre non est necesse.
[ULPIAN, from the eighteenth book on the Edict.] The Lex Aquilia repealed all laws which before its time spoke of unlawful damage, whether they were the Twelve Tables or any other law that existed; there is no need now to refer to those laws.
§9.2.1.1Quae lex Aquilia plebiscitum est, cum eam Aquilius tribunus plebis a plebe rogauerit.
This Lex Aquilia is a plebiscite, since Aquilius, a tribune of the plebs, proposed it to the plebs.

Notes

  1. §9.2.1.prderogauit — The transitive verb derogare, taking the dative (here, omnibus legibus), literally means 'to repeal in part' or 'to restrict a law.' However, in this context, as indicated by the subsequent statement that there is no need to refer to those older laws, it implies that the Lex Aquilia effectively superseded and rendered them obsolete.
  2. §9.2.1.prde damno iniuria — The word iniuria is the ablative singular of the noun iniuria (unlawfulness), functioning adverbially as 'unlawfully' or 'wrongfully' to modify damno. This represents an early phrasing of the legal concept that was later formulated as 'damage unlawfully caused' (damnum iniuria datum).
  3. §9.2.1.1Quae — The feminine singular nominative form of the relative pronoun qui at the beginning of the sentence. It functions as a relative connection (connecting relative) referring back to the Lex Aquilia in the preceding section, and is translated as 'This (Lex Aquilia)'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §9.2.1.pr-9.2.1.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:9.2.1.pr-9.2.1.1

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