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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.48.pr-30.1.48.1

Liability for Bequests Stolen or Killed by Slaves or Co-heirs

Passage 4644 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses the remedy when an heir's slave steals and sells a bequeathed object, and whether a co-heir is liable when another co-heir kills a bequeathed slave.

[POMPONIUS libro sexto ad Sabinum. ] §30.1.48.prSi heredis seruus rem legatam ignorante domino subtraxisset et uendidisset, Atilicinus in factum dandam actionem, ut uel noxae seruum dederet dominus uel ex peculio praestaret, quod ex uenditione eius rei haberet.
[POMPONIUS, Book 6 on Sabinus.] If a slave of the heir, without the owner's knowledge, had stolen and sold a bequeathed thing, Atilicinus thought that an action on the facts (in factum) should be granted, so that the owner should either surrender the slave as noxal surrender or perform out of the peculium what he had from the sale of that thing.
§30.1.48.1Si unus ex heredibus seruum legatum occidisset, omnino mihi non placet coheredem teneri, cuius culpa factum non sit, ne res in rerum natura sit.
If one of the co-heirs had killed a bequeathed slave, it is by no means pleasing to me that a co-heir should be held liable, through whose fault it was not done, for the fact that the thing is no longer in existence.

Notes

  1. 30.1.48.prAtilicinus in factum dandam actionem — A verb of saying or thinking (such as putat, ait, or existimat) is omitted after the proper name Atilicinus, and esse is also omitted after the gerundive dandam, forming an accusative with infinitive construction in indirect speech.
  2. 30.1.48.prnoxae — The dative (or genitive of purpose) of the noun noxa, used in the idiomatic expression noxae dedere (to surrender for noxal liability), which refers to the procedure where an owner escapes liability by surrendering the wrongdoing slave to the victim.
  3. 30.1.48.1ne res in rerum natura sit — A subordinate clause with the conjunction ne, used here in a context of denying the unfairness of holding a co-heir liable (teneri) for the consequence or fact that the bequeathed thing is no longer in existence (due to the slave's death).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.48.pr-30.1.48.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.48.pr-30.1.48.1

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