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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.5.1.pr

Limit on Number of Slaves in Legacy of Choice

Passage 5020 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The Emperor Antoninus Pius rules in a rescript that a person bequeathed the "choice" of slaves is permitted to select up to three of them.

[ULPIANUS libro secundo ad Sabinum. ] §33.5.1.prDiuus Pius Caecilio Proculo rescripsit eum, cui seruorum legata sit electio, tres posse eligere.
[ULPIANUS, on Sabinus, Book II] The Divine Pius wrote back to Caecilius Proculus that he, to whom the choice of slaves has been bequeathed, can choose three.

Notes

  1. §33.5.1.prcui ... legata sit electio — The relative pronoun cui is in the dative case, referring back to the antecedent eum (the subject of the accusative-and-infinitive clause). The verb legata sit is in the perfect subjunctive because it is in a subordinate clause within indirect discourse (dependent on rescripsit).
  2. §33.5.1.prseruorum — A genitive modifying the noun electio. In this context, it functions either as an objective genitive (the choosing of slaves) or as a partitive genitive (the choice from among the slaves).
  3. §33.5.1.prtres — Accusative plural masculine, serving as the direct object of the infinitive eligere. The numeral is used substantively without an accompanying noun, referring contextually to "three slaves."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.5.1.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.5.1.pr

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