Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.46.pr

Application of Slave Legacy Rules to Contractual Debts

Passage 4642 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The rules regarding the distinction between specific and generic legacies also apply to contractual obligations to deliver a specific slave or an unspecified slave.

[IDEM libro nono epistularum. ] §30.1.46.prQuae de legato dicta sunt, eadem transferre licebit ad eum, qui uel Stichum uel hominem dari promiserit.

[THE SAME, Book 9 of Letters.] What has been said concerning a legacy, it will be permitted to apply the same to a person who has promised that either Stichus or a slave should be delivered.

Notes

30.1.46.prStichum uel hominem — 'Stichus' is a proper name commonly used in Roman legal texts to represent a 'specific slave' (species), whereas 'homo' (a slave/man) represents an 'unspecified slave' (genus). This contrast corresponds to the distinction between a generic bequest (generaliter) in §45.1 and a specific bequest (certus homo) in §45.2 of the preceding fragment, showing that the rules concerning legacies are applicable to contractual obligations.
30.1.46.prtransferre licebit ad — The impersonal verb `licebit` ('it will be permitted') governs the infinitive `transferre` ('to apply/transfer'), which takes the neuter plural pronoun `eadem` ('the same things') as its direct object. `eadem` refers back to the relative clause at the beginning of the sentence, `Quae de legato dicta sunt` ('What has been said concerning a legacy').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.46.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.46.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.