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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §30.1.98.pr

Validity of Legacies of Slaves Held in Captivity

Passage 4694 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that the bequest of a slave captured by enemies is valid based on the right of postliminium, just as a slave in the power of the enemy can be instituted as an heir.

[IDEM libro quinquagesimo secundo digestorum. ] §30.1.98.prSeruus ab hostibus captus recte legatur: hoc enim iure postliminii fit, ut, quemadmodum heredem instituere possumus seruum qui in hostium potestate est, ita legare quoque eum possemus.
[THE SAME, from the fifty-second book of the Digests.] A slave captured by enemies is validly bequeathed; for this occurs by the right of postliminium, so that, just as we can institute as heir a slave who is in the power of the enemy, so we might also bequeath him.

Notes

  1. §30.1.98.prpossemus — Although the present subjunctive possimus is grammatically expected in the ut-clause because the main verb fit is in the present tense, the transmitted text reads possemus (imperfect subjunctive). This can be interpreted either as expressing the possibility of begetting as more hypothetical or potential in contrast with the present indicative possumus in the quemadmodum clause, or as an irregularity in the sequence of tenses reflecting the past establishment of the legal rule of postliminium.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §30.1.98.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:30.1.98.pr

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