^er one result was a basic split in juristic writing and thinking. Despite some window- dressing, writers on pri\ ate law ignored narural law. riiere is a lesson here tor legal draftsmen. Do not have windowdressing at the beginning of \'our te.xt. At least, treat the opening seriouslw Indeed, it is proper to take the misunderstanding of the {)ri7icipinm further. .\t the end of the discussion of natural law we ha\ e: vidcmns etciiimcetcru (joqueiniimalia istiiis iiirispcnt 'ui ccuscri. 'Phomas translates: "for we see that animals also are imbued with e.\perience of this law'"' Birks and McLeod translate: "Ohserxation shows that other animals also acknowledge its force".Some similar approach to the te.xt prompts d’ony Honoré to write: Ir looks as if the famous passage of L Ipian on the law of nature, in which he asserts tliat animals are thought to know about marriage, the procreation of children and their education hv experience {pcntin), and hence not merely by instinct, is to he taken as Neoplatonic.''' Not right, of course, hut translation has cotisequences. 1 will concentrate on pcHtiti and a-f/srri, and translate: "I’or we see that other animals also are imagined with knowledge acquired hv experience with this law." ('rnseri äs "to he imagined" or "to he thought (often mistakenly)" is a standard translation in other contexts.'" "Idiis in the passix e relates to «//;■ perception, and "are imagined" is much \ aguer than I'homas' "we see," or Birks and McLeod's "other animals also acknowledge." Peritia is defined in the Oxford Latin Dictionary as "knowledge acquired hv experience, skill, expertise, etc.’’ 17 Institutes, p.4. 18 Justinian's Institutes (Ithaca, NY, 1987), p.38. 19 Ulpian (Oxford, 1982), p. 31. 20 Oxford Latin Dictionary, ed. P.G.W. Glare (Oxford, 1982). P. 297. 21 P. 1343. 31
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