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CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ THE CONCEPTUAL ROLE OF HABITUAL RESIDENCE
According to Paulus a person could have had several domiciles in different
places.12 As proved by Tabula Heracleensis such a situation was accepted in Italy at
the end of the Republic.13
In this context, Ulpianus mentions a descriptive, factual concept of domicile.
His concept referred to reality, symbolised and represented it. This concept invoked
units of reality, the behaviour of town inhabitants outside a colony. Thus it enabled
its direct application to the facts of the case:
Si quis negotia sua non in colonia, sed in municipio semper agit, in illo vendit emit
contrahit, in eo foro balineo spectaculis utitur, ibi festos dies celebrat, omnibus denique
municipii commodis, nullis coloniarum fruitur, ibi magis habere domicilium, quam
ubi colendi causa deversatur.
Where anyone always conducts his business, not in a colony, but in a town, and sells,
purchases, and makes contracts there, or uses the markets, or the baths, or attends
exhibitions, and celebrates festivals there, and, in short, enjoys all the advantages of
the town, and none of those of the colony, he is understood to have his domicile in
the said town rather than where he sojourns for the purpose of cultivating land.14
The quoted concept reflected, for instancing purposes, common situations,
be it work activities, or leisure time. Such a conceptual description assembles the
cases and practice of common human behaviour. The concept points to various
forms of the conduct of individuals who enjoy town comforts because of affiliation
with an urban community. However, such behaviour could have been pertinent
also to a non-member of this urban community, established only temporarily in the
town. That is why the relevant conduct should have been permanent and continuous
and must have been authenticated by social connection with an urban community.
Mentioning sojourns for the purposes of cultivating land serves as a counterexample.
This reference shall conceptually delimitate an interim retreat from the town which
should not result in a waiver of domicile. Such a retreat from town could not have
resulted in a change of domicile.
The concept reflects the reality of life and its objectivity but does not refer
exclusively to the subjective component: a declaration or manifestation of will.
Principally it does not cover the legal resolution for a change of one’s permanent
home when a town dweller has conveyed his intention to choose a different domicile
and to integrate into a different urban community. In this situation the individual
meant to permanently transfer his family and personal affairs to a different town.
The concept of domicile could not effectively accomplish the conceptual role towards
12 STORY, Joseph, op. cit., pp. 42-45.
13 MOATTI, Claudia, op. cit., p. 134.
14 SCOTT, Samuel Parsons. The Civil Law. XI, Cincinnati, 1932, Tit. 1. Concerning municipal towns
and their inhabitants, URL = >.