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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.1.2.pr-34.1.2.1

Maintenance trust for manumitted slaves and treasury liability

Passage 5138 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It states that slaves bequeathed to be manumitted by a legatee are eligible for the trust of maintenance, and that the obligation to pay maintenance remains even if the property from which it is due devolves to the treasury.

[MARCIANUS libro octauo institutionum. ] §34.1.2.prSi quis libertis alimenta reliquerit, et si legati fuerint serui et rogati legatarii manumittere, ad fideicommissum admittuntur, ut et diui quoque Seuerus et Antoninus rescripserunt.
[MARCIANUS, in his eighth book of Institutes.] If anyone has left maintenance to his freedmen, and if slaves have been bequeathed and the legatees requested to manumit them, they are admitted to the trust, as the deified Severus and Antoninus also replied by rescript.
§34.1.2.1Et licet ad fiscum bona fuerint deuoluta, ex quibus alimenta debeantur, praestanda sunt, sicuti si ad quemlibet successorem transissent.
And even if the property from which the maintenance is due has devolved to the imperial treasury, it must be provided, just as if it had passed to any successor whatsoever.

Notes

  1. 34.1.2.prrogati legatarii manumittere — The perfect passive participle 'rogati' (from rogo, 'to ask/request') agrees with the subject 'legatarii' and takes the infinitive 'manumittere' as its complement, meaning 'the legatees having been requested to manumit'.
  2. 34.1.2.prad fideicommissum admittuntur — The subject implied by the third-person plural verb is the slaves to be bequeathed and manumitted. Upon manumission, they become 'freedmen' (liberti) and are admitted (admittuntur) to the benefits of the trust (fideicommissum) for maintenance.
  3. 34.1.2.1licet ad fiscum bona fuerint deuoluta — Since the conjunction 'licet' ('although/even if') requires the subjunctive mood, 'fuerint deuoluta' is in the perfect subjunctive. Similarly, 'debeantur' in the relative clause 'ex quibus...' is in the present subjunctive.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.1.2.pr-34.1.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.1.2.pr-34.1.2.1

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