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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.110.pr

Heir's Liability for Malicious Delivery of a Thieving Slave

Passage 4707 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the liability of an heir who, having the choice of which slave to give, knowingly delivers a thief who then steals from the legatee; the heir is held liable to provide another slave and surrender the thief for damage.

[IDEM libro octauo quaestionum. ] §30.1.110.prSi heres generaliter seruum quem ipse uoluerit dare iussus sciens furem dederit isque furtum legatario fecerit, de dolo malo agi posse ait.
[THE SAME AUTHOR, in the eighth book of Questions.] If an heir, having been ordered to give generally whichever slave he himself should wish, has knowingly given one who is a thief, and that slave has committed a theft against the legatee, he says that an action for fraud can be brought.
sed quoniam illud uerum est heredem in hoc teneri, ut non pessimum det, ad hoc tenetur, ut et alium hominem praestet et hunc pro noxae dedito relinquat.
But since it is true that the heir is bound to this, that he should not give the worst, he is bound to this: that he both perform another person and abandon this one as surrendered for damage.

Notes

  1. 30.1.110.prsciens furem — The present participle sciens (nominative masculine singular) agrees with the subject heres, meaning 'knowingly' or 'while knowing'. furem (accusative masculine singular) is a predicative accusative agreeing with the implied object of dederit, or can be understood as an elliptical accusative-with-infinitive construction (that the slave was a thief) dependent on sciens.
  2. 30.1.110.prpro noxae dedito relinquat — pro noxae dedito means 'as surrendered for damage' (as a noxal surrender). noxae is the dative of noxa (harm, damage), and dedito is the perfect passive participle of dedere (to surrender). This is based on the Roman law principle of noxal liability, where a master could either pay damages for a tort committed by a slave or surrender the slave to the victim to escape further liability.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.110.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.110.pr

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