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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §21.1.35.pr

Redhibition of Sound Slaves Based on Family Ties

Passage 3051 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpianus explains that non-diseased slaves are also returned along with diseased ones if they cannot be separated without great inconvenience or violation of family affection, and that this rule applies to parents and children, siblings, and those in cohabitation.

[ULPIANUS libro primo ad edictum aedilium curulium. ] §21.1.35.prPlerumque propter morbosa mancipia etiam non morbosa redhibentur, si separari non possint sine magno incommodo uel ad pietatis rationem offensam.
[ULPIANUS in the first book on the edict of the curule aediles.] For the most part, on account of diseased slaves, even non-diseased ones are returned, if they cannot be separated without great inconvenience or offense to the principle of family affection.
quid enim, si filio retento parentes redhibere maluerint uel contra? quod et in fratribus et in personas contubernio sibi coniunctas obseruari oportet.
For what if, the son being retained, they should prefer to return the parents, or vice versa? Which rule ought to be observed both in the case of brothers and in the case of persons joined to each other by cohabitation.

Notes

  1. §21.1.35.prad pietatis rationem offensam — The word 'offensam' can be interpreted either as the accusative of the noun 'offensa' (offense, violation) or as the feminine accusative singular of the participle 'offensus' (offended, violated) modifying 'rationem'. In either case, it carries over the negative force of 'sine', meaning 'without offense or violation to the principle of family affection (pietas)'.
  2. §21.1.35.prquid enim, si — An elliptical expression for 'quid enim [fiet/dicemus], si...', meaning 'For what [would happen] if...?' or 'What if...?'. 'filio retento' is an ablative absolute ('the son being retained'), and the subject of 'maluerint' (perfect subjunctive or future perfect of 'malo') is the buyer (emptor).
  3. §21.1.35.prin fratribus et in personas — The preposition 'in' is followed irregularly by both an ablative ('fratribus') and an accusative ('personas') in parallel. This is an example of the confusion between 'in' with the ablative and 'in' with the accusative, a phenomenon frequently observed in Late and Vulgar Latin texts.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §21.1.35.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:21.1.35.pr

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