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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §9.2.8.pr

Abandonment of Care and Animals Kept Without Due Skill

Passage 1524 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Gaius explains that a physician who administers medicine incorrectly or abandons treatment, as well as a muleteer or horse rider who cannot control their animals due to unskillfulness or weakness and causes damage to another's slave, are held liable for negligence (culpa) under the Lex Aquilia.

[GAIUS libro septimo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §9.2.8.prIdem iuris est, si medicamento perperam usus fuerit.
[GAIUS, from the seventh book on the Provincial Edict.] The same rule of law applies if one has used a medicine incorrectly.
sed et qui bene secuerit et dereliquit curationem, securus non erit, sed culpae reus intellegitur.
But also one who has operated well and then abandoned the treatment will not be free from liability, but is understood to be guilty of negligence.
mulionem quoque, si per imperitiam impetum mularum retinere non potuerit, si eae alienum hominem obtriuerint, uolgo dicitur culpae nomine teneri.
It is also commonly said that a muleteer is held on the ground of negligence if, through unskillfulness, he could not hold back the onset of the mules, and they crushed another's slave.
idem dicitur et si propter infirmitatem sustinere mularum impetum non potuerit: nec uidetur iniquum, si infirmitas culpae adnumeretur, cum affectare quisque non debeat, in quo uel intellegit uel intellegere debet infirmitatem suam alii periculosam futuram.
The same is said even if, because of weakness, he could not withstand the onset of the mules; nor does it seem unfair if weakness is numbered as negligence, since no one ought to attempt that in which he either understands or ought to understand that his own weakness will be dangerous to another.
idem iuris est in persona eius, qui impetum equi, quo uehebatur, propter imperitiam uel infirmitatem retinere non poterit.
The same rule of law applies in the case of a person who, because of unskillfulness or weakness, cannot hold back the onset of the horse on which he was riding.

Notes

  1. §9.2.8.prIdem iuris — An expression combining the neuter pronoun subject `idem` ("the same thing") with the partitive genitive `iuris` ("of law", "legal rule"). It indicates that the same legal conclusion mentioned in the preceding text (D. 9.2.7.8)—that an action is available either under the Lex Aquilia or from the contract of hiring—applies here as well.
  2. §9.2.8.prmulionem quoque ... uolgo dicitur culpae nomine teneri — While the verb `dicitur` ("is said") classically prefers a personal construction with a nominative subject (e.g., `mulio ... dicitur ... teneri`), here it is used with an accusative subject `mulionem`, forming an impersonal accusative with infinitive (A.c.I.) construction.
  3. §9.2.8.prcum affectare quisque non debeat, in quo — The conjunction `cum` expresses cause ("since", "because") and governs the subjunctive present `debeat` (from `debeo`). The antecedent of the relative pronoun `quo` is not explicitly expressed, functioning as the implicit object of the infinitive `affectare` ("to attempt", "to undertake").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §9.2.8.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:9.2.8.pr

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