Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §37.14.4.pr

Preservation of Patronage Rights for Children of Traitors

Passage 5854 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text conveys an imperial rescript ruling that the rights of patronage over freedmen are preserved for the children of patrons even if their father was condemned for treason, just as for those punished for other causes.

[IDEM libro quinto institutionum. ] §37.14.4.prIura libertorum patronorum liberis, cum pater eorum erat perduellionis damnatus, salua esse diui Seuerus et Antoninus benignissime rescripserunt, sicut ex alia causa punitorum liberis iura libertorum salua sunt.
[THE SAME, in the fifth book of Institutes.] The deified Severus and Antoninus ruled most benignly by rescript that the rights over freedmen remain unimpaired for the children of patrons, even when their father has been condemned for treason, just as the rights over freedmen remain unimpaired for the children of those punished for any other cause.

Notes

  1. 37.14.4.priura libertorum — The genitive libertorum is an objective genitive, meaning "rights over/concerning freedmen" (i.e., patronal rights).
  2. 37.14.4.prpatronorum liberis — The dative liberis is a dative of advantage (dativus commodi) modifying the adjective salua, indicating for whose benefit the rights are preserved. The same construction applies to punitorum liberis in the latter part.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §37.14.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:37.14.4.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.