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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §24.3.61.pr

Restitution of Inheritance from an Unauthorizedly Freed Slave

Passage 3653 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section defines the scope of the husband's obligation to restore the inheritance to his wife when he manumits a dotal slave against her will and is subsequently appointed as the sole heir of the freedman.

[PAPINIANUS libro undecimo quaestionum. ] §24.3.61.prDotalem seruum uir inuita uxore manumisit.
[PAPINIANUS, Questions, book 11.] A husband manumitted a dotal slave against his wife's will.
heres solus uir a liberto institutus portionem hereditatis, quam ut patronus consequi potuit ac debuit, restituere debet, alteram uero portionem dotis iudicio, si modo uxor manumittenti refragatur.
Having been appointed sole heir by the freedman, the husband must restore that portion of the inheritance which he, as patron, was able and ought to have acquired; but the other portion, indeed, he must restore through an action for the dowry, provided that the wife opposed him when he manumitted the slave.

Notes

  1. §24.3.61.prdotis iudicio — The genitive dotis modifies the ablative iudicio rather than portionem, forming the phrase iudicium dotis which refers to the action for the dowry (actio rei uxoriae). The verb phrase restituere debet from the first clause is understood as omitted in this latter clause.
  2. §24.3.61.prmanumittenti — The present active participle (masculine singular dative) of manumitto (to manumit). It functions as the object of the verb refragatur, which governs the dative, and refers to the husband who performed the manumission.
  3. §24.3.61.prheres solus uir a liberto institutus — The subject uir (husband) is modified by the perfect passive participle institutus (having been appointed). heres solus (as sole heir) functions predicatively within this participial construction.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §24.3.61.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:24.3.61.pr

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