[58]
For how can an exile hold any property?
The uneducated son raises a doubt as to the interpretation both of the letter and the spirit of the law.
Tile eloquent son will cling to the strict letter of
tile law, which makes no exception, and will argue
that the reason for enacting a penalty against those
who fail to appear for their fathers was to prevent
their being deterred from the defence of their
fathers by the risk of banishment, and he will assert
that his brother failed to appear in defence of
his innocent father. It may therefore be worth
while pointing out that two general questions may
arise out of one basis—1 for we may ask, “Is everyone who fails to appear liable to disinheritance?”
or “Is he bound to appear irrespective of the
character of his father?”
1 III. vi. 1 sqq. The basis or main point on which the case turns is that of the intention of the law (voluntas).
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.