[ULPIANUS libro trigensimo octauo ad Sabinum. ] §1.14.3.prBarbarius Philippus cum seruus fugitiuus esset, Romae praeturam petiit et praetor designatus est.
[ULPIAN, in his thirty-eighth book On Sabinus.] While Barbarius Philippus was a runaway slave, he sought the praetorship at Rome and was designated praetor.
sed nihil ei seruitutem obstetisse ait Pomponius, quasi praetor non fuerit: atquin uerum est praetura eum functum.
But Pomponius says that his slavery was no obstacle to him, as if he had not been praetor; yet it is true that he performed the duties of the praetorship.
et tamen uideamus: si seruus quamdiu latuit, dignitate praetoria functus sit, quid dicemus? quae edixit, quae decreuit, nullius fore momenti? an fore propter utilitatem eorum, qui apud eum egerunt uel lege uel quo alio iure? et uerum puto nihil eorum reprobari: hoc enim humanius est: cum etiam potuit populus Romanus seruo decernere hanc potestatem, sed et si scisset seruum esse, liberum effecisset.
And yet let us see: if a slave, as long as he concealed his status, performed the praetorian office, what shall we say? Will what he edicted and what he decreed be of no force? Or will they be of force for the benefit of those who brought actions before him, whether under a statute or any other law? And I think it true that none of these acts is rejected; for this is more humane, since the Roman people could have granted this power even to a slave, and indeed, if they had known he was a slave, they would have made him free.
quod ius multo magis in inperatore obseruandum est.
This rule of law is much more to be observed in the case of the emperor.