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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.3.19.pr

Release of a Manager and Debts to Slave Peculium

Passage 5219 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This fragment explains that while a legacy of release for a manager bars the heir from demanding even loaned money, it does not extend to debts owed to the testator's slaves on account of their peculium.

[MODESTINUS libro nono regularum. ] §34.3.19.prCum ita testemur: 'heres meus damnas esto liberare illum, quod is negotia mea gessit, et si quid eum mihi dare facere oportet, ab eo non exigere', damnatur heres nec creditas ab eo quoque pecunias exiget.
[MODESTINUS in the ninth book of Rules.] When we make a will in this way: 'My heir shall be under obligation to release him because he managed my affairs, and if he ought to give or do anything for me, not to demand it from him,' the heir is bound and shall not demand even the money loaned to him.
in simili autem legato uix est, ut de eo quoque legando pater familias senserit, quod seruis eius peculii nomine debetur.
However, in a similar legacy, it is hardly possible that the father of the family intended to bequeath also that which is owed to his slaves on account of their peculium.

Notes

  1. §34.3.19.prdamnas esto — A formulaic expression for legatum per damnationem (legacy by condemnation), which here governs the infinitives liberare and exigere to impose an obligation on the heir.
  2. §34.3.19.pruix est, ut — An impersonal expression meaning 'it is scarcely possible that,' taking the perfect subjunctive senserit in the noun clause.
  3. §34.3.19.prquod seruis eius peculii nomine debetur — The pronoun eius refers to the testator (pater familias). Although a debt owed to a slave's peculium legally belongs to the master and could technically be included in 'what is owed to me', the text interprets that the testator did not intend to release such debts.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.3.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.3.19.pr

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