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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §2.10.2.pr

Liability for Court Appearance Prevented by a Slave

Passage 326 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The opinions of Ofilius and Sabinus are presented regarding the legal remedies—namely, granting an exception or applying a noxal action with limited liability—when a plaintiff's slave maliciously prevents someone from appearing in court, depending on whether the owner consented to the act.

[PAULUS libro sexto ad edictum. ] §2.10.2.prSi actoris seruus domino sciente et cum possit non prohibente dolo fecerit, quo minus in iudicio sistam, Ofilius dandam mihi exceptionem aduersus dominum ait, ne ex dolo serui dominus lucretur.
[PAULUS, in the sixth book on the Edict.] If the plaintiff's slave, with the owner's knowledge and when he could have prevented it but did not, has acted with malice so that I do not appear in court, Ofilius says that an exception against the owner should be granted to me, lest the owner profit from the malice of his slave.
si uero sine uoluntate domini seruus hoc fecerit, Sabinus noxale iudicium dandum ait nec factum serui domino obesse debere nisi hactenus, ut ipso careat: quando ipse nihil deliquit.
If, however, the slave has done this without the owner's will, Sabinus says that a noxal action should be granted, and that the act of the slave ought not to prejudice the owner except to the extent that he loses the slave himself; since he himself committed no offense.

Notes

  1. §2.10.2.prdomino sciente et cum possit non prohibente — An ablative absolute construction where the noun domino is modified by two coordinate present participles in the ablative: sciente and non prohibente. The intervening cum-clause with subjunctive (cum possit, 'when he is able to') restricts the second participle non prohibente, meaning 'not preventing even though he was able to do so'.
  2. §2.10.2.prquo minus in iudicio sistam — A clause of prevention introduced by quo minus with the subjunctive present sistam, dependent on the verbal phrase dolo fecerit (acted with malice, which here functions as an act of prevention or hindrance). It translates as 'lest I appear in court' or 'so that I do not appear in court'.
  3. §2.10.2.prnisi hactenus, ut ipso careat — The phrase 'nisi hactenus, ut...' is a restrictive expression meaning 'only to the extent that... (and no further)'. Careat is the present subjunctive of careo (which governs the ablative and means 'to lack' or 'to lose/give up'), with dominus understood as the subject. The ablative pronoun ipso refers to the slave (seruus), pointing to the limitation of liability in a noxal action (noxal surrender) where the owner is only required to give up the offending slave rather than pay full damages.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §2.10.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:2.10.2.pr

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