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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §37.14.7.pr-37.14.7.1

Manumission under Anti-Prostitution Terms and Punishing Ungrateful Freedmen

Passage 5857 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage describes the decree of Emperor Vespasian regarding the liberation of a female slave sold under a non-prostitution condition when she is subsequently resold, and the punishments imposed by provincial governors on ungrateful freedmen.

[MODESTINUS libro singulari de manumissionibus. ] §37.14.7.prDiuus Uespasianus decreuit, ut, si qua hac lego uenierit, ne prostitueretur et, si prostituta esset, ut esset libera, si postea ab emptore alii sine condicione ueniit, ex lege uenditionis liberam esse et libertam prioris uenditoris.
[MODESTINUS, in the single book on Manumissions.] The Divine Vespasian decreed that if any female slave should be sold under the condition that she should not be prostituted, and that, if she were prostituted, she should be free, and if she was afterwards sold by the buyer to another person without any condition, she should be free according to the condition of the sale, and should be the freedwoman of the former seller.
§37.14.7.1Mandatis Imperatorum cauetur, ut etiam in prouinciis praesides de querellis patronorum ius dicentes secundum delictum admissum libertis poenas irrogent.
It is provided by the Imperial Mandates that even in the provinces, the governors, when administering justice concerning the complaints of patrons, shall impose punishments on freedmen according to the offense committed.
interdum illae poenae a liberto ingrato exiguntur: uel pars bonorum eius aufertur et patrono datur: uel fustibus caeditur et ita absoluitur.
Sometimes these punishments are exacted from an ungrateful freedman: either a part of his property is taken away and given to the patron, or he is beaten with clubs and thus released.

Notes

  1. §37.14.7.prhac lego — A scribal error in the manuscripts for hac lege. It is the ablative of lex (here meaning 'condition' or 'stipulation'), introducing the clause ne prostitueretur to mean 'under the condition that she should not be prostituted'.
  2. §37.14.7.prliberam esse — The sentence begins with Diuus Uespasianus decreuit ut..., but after the intermediate conditional clauses, the main conclusion shifts to the accusative with infinitive construction liberam esse..., representing the content of the imperial decree in indirect speech.
  3. §37.14.7.1ius dicentes — A present participle modifying praesides (governors). It takes the prepositional phrase de querellis patronorum, meaning 'administering justice (declaring the law) concerning the complaints of patrons'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §37.14.7.pr-37.14.7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:37.14.7.pr-37.14.7.1

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