Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §3.5.17.pr

Liability of a Freed Slave Retaining Peculium

Passage 589 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Citing the opinions of Proculus, Pegasus, and Neratius, this text discusses the scope of liability of a person who began managing affairs while in slavery after his manumission, specifically regarding his duty to pay the amount that could have been recovered by retaining his peculium.

[PAULUS libro nono ad edictum. ] §3.5.17.prProculus et Pegasus bonam fidem eum, qui in seruitute gerere coepit, praestare debere aiunt: ideoque quantum, si alius eius negotia gessisset, seruare potuisset, tantum eum, qui a semet ipso non exegerit, negotiorum gestorum actione praestaturum, si aliquid habuit in peculio, cuius retentione id seruari potest.
[PAULUS, on the Edict, book nine] Proculus and Pegasus say that a person who began to manage affairs while in slavery must practice good faith; and therefore, that one who has not exacted it from himself will, in an action for business management, have to make good as much as could have been recovered if someone else had managed his affairs, provided that he had something in his peculium, by the retention of which that amount could be recovered.
idem Neratius.
Neratius is of the same opinion.

Notes

  1. §3.5.17.prgerere coepit — Used intransitively here, but semantically it stands for 'negotia gerere' (to manage affairs) with the object 'negotia' omitted.
  2. §3.5.17.prquantum, si alius eius negotia gessisset, seruare potuisset — Consists of a conditional clause expressing a counterfactual situation (si... gessisset, subjunctive pluperfect) and its apodosis within the relative clause (seruare potuisset, subjunctive pluperfect). In this context, 'eius' refers to the principal (the master) of the affairs managed.
  3. §3.5.17.prqui a semet ipso non exegerit — The subject of this relative clause is the manumitted former slave. Since he acts as the manager (akin to a creditor) but is also the debtor himself, it refers to the peculiar situation of 'not having exacted (the debt on behalf of the master) from himself.'
  4. §3.5.17.prcuius retentione id seruari potest — 'cuius' is the genitive of the relative pronoun referring to 'peculio' (or 'aliquid'). 'retentione' is an ablative of means, describing the situation where the master could have recovered the debt by retaining (deducting) it from the former slave's peculium.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §3.5.17.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:3.5.17.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.