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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §34.5.29.pr

Scope of a Legacy of Maintenance for Manumitted Slaves

Passage 5293 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A case concerning whether a legacy of maintenance, provided in a connected writing of a will that manumitted several slaves and specified legacies for two of them, was due to all the manumitted slaves or only to those two, where Scaevola ruled that it was bequeathed to all.

[SCAEUOLA libro octauo decimo digestorum. ] §34.5.29.prPlures testamento manumiserat, in quibus Sabinam et Cyprogeniam, cum quisque eorum ad trigesimum annum aetatis peruenisset et cum liber quisque eorum esset, certam summam dari uoluerat.
[SCAEVOLA, from the eighteenth book of the Digests.] He had manumitted several persons by will, among whom [were] Sabina and Cyprogenia; and he had wished a certain sum to be given when each of them should have reached thirty years of age and when each of them should be free.
et coniuncta scriptura ita cauerat: 'Sabinae et Cyprogeniae dari uolo, cum ad statutam aetatem peruenerint, singulis decem et hoc amplius alimentorum nomine in annos singulos quoad uiuent singulis decem'.
And in an adjoined writing he had provided as follows: 'I wish [there] to be given to Sabina and Cyprogenia, when they have reached the established age, ten to each, and in addition to this, ten to each for each year as long as they live under the title of maintenance'.
quaesitum est, utrum omnibus manumissis alimenta debeantur an uero Sabinae et Cyprogeniae solis.
The question was asked whether the maintenance was due to all the manumitted persons, or indeed to Sabina and Cyprogenia alone.
respondit secundum ea quae proponerentur uideri omnibus alimenta legata.
He replied that, according to the facts proposed, it seemed that the maintenance was bequeathed to all.

Notes

  1. 34.5.29.prSabinam et Cyprogeniam — Although they stand in an object relation to the preceding `Plures testamento manumiserat`, they are placed in the accusative case inside the relative clause `in quibus`. This is interpreted as an elliptical expression implying the verb `manumiserat` ('among whom [he had manumitted] Sabina and Cyprogenia') or as a case attraction.
  2. 34.5.29.prsingulis decem... singulis decem — The word `singulis` ('to each') is repeated in the quotation of the will. The reason why the reply (`respondit`) ruled that maintenance was bequeathed to 'all' (`omnibus`) is that the second `singulis` in the latter clause could be interpreted as referring not just to Sabina and Cyprogenia, but to each of all the manumitted slaves (`Plures`) mentioned at the beginning, or that the preceding general clause (`cum quisque eorum...`) was deemed to influence this provision.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §34.5.29.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:34.5.29.pr

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