Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §16.3.21.pr-16.3.21.1

Action on Deposit Against Freed Sons and Slaves

Passage 2426 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text addresses cases where a thing is deposited with a son-in-power or a slave who is subsequently freed. It establishes that if they still hold the thing, the action should be brought against the freed individual themselves, rather than the father or master, sharing Trebatius's even broader view on slaves.

[IDEM libro sexagensimo ad edictum. ] §16.3.21.prSi apud filium familias res deposita sit et emancipatus rem teneat, pater nec intra annum de peculio debet conueniri, sed ipse filius.
[THE SAME, On the Edict, Book 60] If a thing is deposited with a son-in-power, and, having been emancipated, he holds the thing, the father ought not to be sued on the peculium even within a year, but the son himself.
§16.3.21.1Plus Trebatius existimat, etiamsi apud seruum depositum sit et manumissus rem teneat, in ipsum dandam actionem, non in dominum, licet ex ceteris causis in manumissum actio non datur.
Trebatius goes further and thinks that even if the deposit was made with a slave, and, having been manumitted, he holds the thing, the action must be granted against him himself, not against the master, although for other causes an action is not granted against a manumitted person.

Notes

  1. §16.3.21.prde peculio ... conueniri — conueniri is the passive infinitive, meaning 'to be sued.' de peculio ('concerning the peculium') refers to the actio de peculio, an action in which a father or master is held liable up to the limit of the peculium (allowance) granted to a son or slave. Although the general rule allows this action to be brought against the father within a year (intra annum) after the son's emancipation, this case forms an exception because the son still holds the deposited object, making the son himself directly liable.
  2. §16.3.21.1Plus Trebatius existimat — Plus functions adverbially, meaning 'more' or 'further.' It indicates that Trebatius extends the legal reasoning applied to a 'son-in-power' in the previous section to the case of a 'slave.' The main verb existimat introduces the subsequent accusative and infinitive construction (dandam [esse] actionem).
  3. §16.3.21.1in ipsum dandam actionem — dandam is a feminine singular accusative gerundive forming the accusative-with-infinitive clause dandam esse actionem, which functions as indirect speech dependent on existimat. The prepositional phrase in ipsum ('against himself') indicates that the action must be directed against the manumitted slave himself (in + accusative denotes the target of the legal action).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §16.3.21.pr-16.3.21.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:16.3.21.pr-16.3.21.1

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.