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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.1.17.pr

Liability of Co-Owners for False Answers Concerning a Slave

Passage 1763 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The author discusses the joint and several liability of co-owners of a slave when there is a false statement in court or malicious acts to hide the slave, and the exemption of those who did not participate.

[IDEM libro trigensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §11.1.17.prSi seruus non sit unius, sed plurium et omnes mentiti sunt eum in sua potestate non esse uel quidam ex illis, aut dolo fecerunt quo minus sit in potestate, unusquisque illorum tenebitur in solidum, quemadmodum tenerentur, si haberent in potestate: is uero, qui nihil dolo fecerit quo minus in potestate haberet uel non negauit, non tenebitur.
[THE SAME, from the thirty-eighth book on the Edict.] If a slave should belong not to one person, but to several, and all of them or some of them have lied that he is not in their power, or have acted with malice so that he is not in their power, each of them shall be liable for the whole, just as they would be liable if they had him in their power; but he who has done nothing with malice to prevent him from having him in his power, or has not denied it, shall not be liable.

Notes

  1. §11.1.17.prunius, sed plurium — Predicative genitives of possession, which, with the copula `sit`, express the relation of ownership: "belong not to one person, but to several."
  2. §11.1.17.prfecerunt quo minus — The combination of `facere` and `quo minus` (+ subjunctive `sit`) expresses the meaning "to bring it about that... not" or "to act so as to prevent...". Here it refers to intentionally acting so that the slave is not in the co-owners' power.
  3. §11.1.17.prin solidum — A technical legal term in Roman law meaning "for the whole" or "jointly and severally," indicating that each party is liable for the entire obligation rather than a divided share.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.1.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.1.17.pr

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