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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §35.1.50.pr

Appointment of Arbiter for Freedom Conditioned on Accounts

Passage 5381 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian cites a rescript of the deified Pius permitting consuls to appoint an arbiter to audit accounts and determine the outstanding balance and documents to be produced by a slave named Epaphroditus, who was conditionally freed.

[ULPIANUS libro primo de officio consulis. ] §35.1.50.prSi cui libertas data sit directo sub hac condicione 'si rationes reddidisset', arbitrum a consulibus diuus Pius dari permisit his uerbis: 'aditi a uobis amplissimi consules arbitrum dabunt, qui excussis rationibus non tantum quae reliqua sunt Epaphroditi constituent, uerum etiam quas rationes quaeque instrumenta tradere aut exhibere dominis suis debeat: cuius sententiae cum fuerit satisfactum, non impedietur Epaphroditi libertas'.
[ULPIAN in the first book on the Office of Consul.] If freedom has been directly bequeathed to someone under this condition, 'if he should have rendered his accounts', the deified Pius permitted an arbiter to be appointed by the consuls in these words: 'The most illustrious consuls, having been petitioned by you, will appoint an arbiter, who, after examining the accounts, will not only determine what balances are owed by Epaphroditus, but also what accounts and what documents he ought to deliver or produce to his masters; and when this decision has been satisfied, the freedom of Epaphroditus shall not be impeded.'

Notes

  1. 35.1.50.prdirecto — "directly". This refers to the direct grant of freedom by testamentary provision (directo), as opposed to an indirect grant of freedom via a trust (fideicommissum).
  2. 35.1.50.praditi a uobis — The participle aditi is the nominative plural masculine perfect passive participle of adire (to petition, approach an official), modifying the main subject consules. The prepositional phrase a uobis ("by you") refers to the parties (such as the slave Epaphroditus or his representatives) to whom the Emperor addressed this rescript.
  3. 35.1.50.prquae reliqua sunt Epaphroditi — Epaphroditi is a genitive referring to the slave Epaphroditus by name. It modifies quae reliqua sunt ("what is remaining"), meaning the balances or outstanding amounts that Epaphroditus owed (from the administration of his accounts) to his masters.
  4. 35.1.50.prcuius sententiae — The relative pronoun cuius refers back to the decision (sententia) of the arbiter. satisfactum fuerit is an impersonal passive construction in the future perfect, derived from the intransitive verb satisfacere (to satisfy, comply with), which governs the dative case of sententiae.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §35.1.50.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:35.1.50.pr

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