Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.3.3.pr-11.3.3.1

Malicious Persuasion as a Requirement for Corrupting a Slave

Passage 1773 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that the praetor limits liability to cases of malicious persuasion, illustrating this with the case of someone advising another's slave to perform a dangerous act, where liability depends entirely on the presence of malicious intent.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo tertio ad edictum. ] §11.3.3.prdolo malo adiecto calliditatem notat praetor eius qui persuadet: ceterum si quis sine dolo deteriorem fecerit, non notatur, et si lusus gratia fecit, non tenetur.
[ULPIANUS, from the twenty-third book on the Edict.] By the addition of "with malicious intent," the praetor brands the cunning of the one who persuades; on the other hand, if anyone makes a slave worse without malicious intent, he is not branded, and if he did so as a joke, he is not held liable.
§11.3.3.1Unde quaeritur, si quis seruo alieno suaserit in tectum ascendere uel in puteum descendere et ille parens ascenderit uel descenderit et ceciderit crusque uel quid aliud fregerit uel perierit, an teneatur: et si quidem sine dolo malo fecerit, non tenetur, si dolo malo, tenebitur.
Hence the question is asked whether, if anyone has persuaded another's slave to climb onto a roof or go down into a well, and the slave, obeying, has climbed or gone down and fallen, and broken a leg or something else, or has died, that person is held liable; and if indeed he did so without malicious intent, he is not held liable, but if with malicious intent, he will be held liable.

Notes

  1. §11.3.3.prdolo malo adiecto — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun phrase dolo malo and the participle adiecto. It refers to the fact that because the phrase "with malicious intent" was added to the praetor's edict, the liability is restricted to cases involving actual malice.
  2. §11.3.3.1an teneatur — Introduces an indirect question clause serving as the subject of the impersonally used main verb quaeritur (it is questioned). The conditional clause si quis... perierit is nested immediately before this clause beginning with an, forming a complex hypothetical question.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.3.3.pr-11.3.3.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.3.3.pr-11.3.3.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.