The Justinian Dotal Mortgage: Hints for a Diachronic Comparison

Abstract

This paper investigates the institution of dotal mortgage in a diachronic perspective. It is a very ancient institution systematised and regulated on several occasions by Justinian, which was already the subject of strong criticism in the late Middle Ages. Transposed only in some of the modern European codes and then definitively repealed, the dotal mortgage seems to be comparable, in terms of its nature and function, to the institution of the judicial mortgage securing support obligations at the time of separation and divorce (art. 156 co. 5 c.c. and art. 8 co. 2 L. 898/1970