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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §17.1.19.pr

Mandate to Buy a Slave and Claiming Return from Owner

Passage 2459 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius discusses whether a person who ransomed a slave at the slave's request can force the original owner to take back the slave, considering the reciprocal nature of the action of mandate and the potential injustice to the owner.

[IDEM libro quadragensimo tertio ad Sabinum. ] §17.1.19.prSi seruus meus de semet emendo mandaret, ut redimatur, Pomponius eleganter tractat, an is, qui seruum redemerit, ultro conuenire possit uenditorem, ut seruum recipiat, quoniam mandati actio ultro citroque est.
[THE SAME in his forty-third book on Sabinus.] If my slave should give a mandate concerning buying himself, so that he may be ransomed, Pomponius elegantly discusses whether he who has ransomed the slave can of his own accord sue the seller to take back the slave, since the action of mandate is reciprocal.
sed esse iniquissimum Pomponius ait ex facto serui mei cogi me seruum recipere, quem in perpetuum alienari uolueram, nec magis in hunc casum debeo mandati teneri, quam ut eum tibi uenderem.
But Pomponius says that it is most unjust that I should be compelled by the act of my slave to take back a slave whom I had wished to alienate forever, nor in this case ought I to be held liable under mandate any more than to sell him to you.

Notes

  1. §17.1.19.prde semet emendo — An ablative phrase consisting of `semet` (the pronoun `se` with the emphatic suffix `-met`) and the gerundive `emendo`. Governed by the preposition `de`, meaning 'concerning buying himself'.
  2. §17.1.19.prultro conuenire — A combination of the adverb `ultro` (of one's own accord, proactively) and the verb `conuenire`, which in a legal context means 'to summon', 'to sue', or 'to bring an action against'. Here it refers to the mandatary proactively bringing an action against the seller (the original owner) to take back the slave.
  3. §17.1.19.prmandati teneri — The verb `teneri` (to be held liable, to be bound) accompanied by the genitive `mandati` expressing the cause or ground of liability. It means 'to be held liable under (the contract of) mandate'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §17.1.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:17.1.19.pr

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