[PAULUS libro nono ad edictum. ] §3.5.14.prPomponius libro uicensimo sexto in negotiis gestis initio cuiusque temporis condicionem spectandam ait.
[PAUL, on the edict, book nine] Pomponius, in the twenty-sixth book, says that in the management of affairs, the status [of the person managed] is to be looked at at the beginning of each period.
quid enim, inquit, si pupilli negotia coeperim gerere et inter moras pubes factus sit? uel serui aut filii familias et interea liber aut pater familias effectus sit? hoc et ego uerius esse didici, nisi si ab initio quasi unum negotium gesturus accessero, deinde alio animo ad alterum accessero eo tempore, quo iam pubes uel liber uel pater familias effectus est: hic enim quasi plura negotia gesta sunt et pro qualitate personarum et actio formatur et condemnatio moderatur.
For what, he says, if I have begun to manage the affairs of a ward, and during the delay he has become of age? Or those of a slave or a son-in-power, and meanwhile he has been made free or a father-of-the-family? I too have learned that this is more correct, unless indeed I have approached the matter at the beginning intending to manage it as if it were a single affair, and then approached another affair with a different intention at that time when he has already become of age, free, or a father-of-the-family: for in this case, it is as if several affairs have been managed, and both the action is framed and the condemnation is moderated according to the status of the persons.