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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.4.3.pr

Authority to Search for Runaway Slaves on Others' Estates

Passage 1790 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian cites a rescript of Antoninus Pius allowing slave owners to seek the governor's permission and assistance to search for runaways on others' estates, and a senatorial address by Marcus Aurelius granting general entry rights to imperial, senatorial, and private estates for such searches.

[ULPIANUS libro septimo de officio proconsulis. ] §11.4.3.prDiuus Pius rescripsit eum, qui fugitiuum uult requirere in praediis alienis, posse adire praesidem litteras ei daturum et, si ita res exegerit, apparitorem quoque, ut ei permittatur ingredi et inquirere, et poenam eundem praesidem in eum constituere, qui inquiri non permisserit.
[ULPIANUS, from the seventh book on the office of proconsul.] The Divine Pius issued a rescript that a person who wishes to search for a runaway slave on another's estate can approach the governor, who will give him a letter and, if the case so requires, an officer as well, so that he may be permitted to enter and search; and that the same governor shall impose a penalty on anyone who does not permit the search.
sed et diuus Marcus oratione, quam in senatu recitauit, facultatem dedit ingrediendi tam Caesaris quam senatorum et paganorum praedia uolentibus fugitiuos inquirere scrutarique cubilia atque uestigia occultantium.
Moreover, the Divine Marcus, in an address which he read in the Senate, granted the right of entry to the estates of the Emperor, as well as of senators and plebeians, to those who wish to search for runaway slaves and to ransack the hiding-places and tracks of those who conceal them.

Notes

  1. §11.4.3.prlitteras ei daturum — A future participle phrase modifying the noun praesidem (accusative). Although it is possible to supply esse to make it an independent infinitive clause (AcI), it is more natural to take it adjectivally to describe the attribute of the governor whom the searcher can approach.
  2. §11.4.3.prconstituere — An infinitive in the accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction introduced by the main verb rescripsit. Its subject accusative is eundem praesidem, forming the second parallel clause governed by rescripsit.
  3. §11.4.3.pruolentibus — Dative plural of the present participle uolens. It serves as the indirect object of the main verb dedit ('gave'), and governs the subsequent infinitives inquirere and scrutari, meaning 'to those who wish to...'.
  4. §11.4.3.proccultantium — Genitive plural of the present participle occultans ('concealing'). It functions as a possessive genitive modifying the noun phrase cubilia atque uestigia ('hiding-places and tracks'), meaning 'of those who conceal'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.4.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.4.3.pr

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