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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.4.15.pr

Remedies upon Execution of a Slave Delivered for Interrogation

Passage 1965 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses a case where a slave delivered to Attius for interrogation was executed due to his wrongful actions, examining the availability of actions for recovery, production, and theft depending on the status of ownership.

[POMPONIUS libro uicensimo secundo ad Sabinum. ] §12.4.15.prCum seruus tuus in suspicionem furti Attio uenisset, dedisti eum in quaestionem sub ea causa, ut, si id repertum in eo non esset, redderetur tibi: is eum tradidit praefecto uigilum quasi in facinore depraehensum: praefectus uigilum eum summo supplicio adfecit.
[POMPONIUS, Twenty-Second Book on Sabinus.] When your slave had come under suspicion of theft by Attius, you delivered him for interrogation under the condition that, if the theft were not found in him, he should be returned to you. He delivered him to the prefect of the watch as if caught in the act of a crime; the prefect of the watch inflicted the supreme punishment upon him.
ages cum Attio dare eum tibi oportere, quia et ante mortem dare tibi eum oportuerit.
You will bring an action against Attius on the ground that he ought to give him to you, because even before his death he ought to have given him to you.
Labeo ait posse etiam ad exhibendum agi, quoniam fecerit quo minus exhiberet.
Labeo says that an action for production can also be brought, since he made it impossible to produce him.
sed Proculus dari oportere ita ait, si fecisses eius hominem, quo casu ad exhibendum agere te non posse: sed si tuus mansisset, etiam furti te acturum cum eo, quia re aliena ita sit usus, ut sciret se inuito domino uti aut dominum si sciret prohibiturum esse.
But Proculus says that there is an obligation to give only if you had made the slave his property, in which case you cannot bring an action for production; but if he had remained yours, you will also bring an action for theft against him, because he so used another's property, knowing that he was using it against the owner's will, or that the owner, if he knew, would forbid it.

Notes

  1. §12.4.15.prdare eum tibi oportere — Refers to the formulaic intentio of a condictio in Roman law, expressing the legal obligation of the defendant ("that he ought to give him to you").
  2. §12.4.15.prfecisses eius hominem — eius is the genitive pronoun referring to Attius, and hominem refers to the slave. This denotes the condition "if you had made the slave his (Attius's) property" (with fecisses as the second-person subjunctive pluperfect).
  3. §12.4.15.prre aliena ita sit usus — re aliena is the ablative object of the deponent verb utor (here in the subjunctive perfect sit usus). It describes the requirements for theft of use (furtum usus) in Roman law, where using another's property knowing it is against the owner's will constitutes theft.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.4.15.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.4.15.pr

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