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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §25.3.9.pr

Impoverished Patrons Claiming Support from Freedmen

Passage 3715 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the general exclusion of patrons' rights over the property of living freedmen, with an exception allowing support if extreme illness and poverty are proven before the governors.

[PAULUS libro singulari de iure patronatus. ] §25.3.9.prIn bonis superstitum libertorum nullum omnino ius patroni liberiue patronorum habent, nisi si tam esse infirmos tamque pauperes praesidibus probauerint, ut merito menstruis alimentis a libertis suis adiuuari debeant.
[PAULUS, from the single book on the Right of Patronage.] Patrons or the children of patrons have absolutely no right in the property of surviving freedmen, unless they have proved to the governors that they are so infirm and so poor that they ought deservedly to be assisted by their freedmen with monthly maintenance.
idque ius ita plurimis principum constitutionibus manifestatur.
And this right is thus manifested by very many constitutions of the emperors.

Notes

  1. §25.3.9.prtam esse infirmos tamque pauperes — An accusative-with-infinitive construction functioning as the object of the verb `probauerint`, where the reflexive pronoun `se` acting as the subject accusative is omitted. Thus, the adjectives `infirmos` and `pauperes` appear in the accusative to refer back to the subjects of the main clause (the patrons).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §25.3.9.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:25.3.9.pr

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