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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.2.4.pr-38.2.4.3

Special Manumission and Patronal Rights upon Capture or Exile

Passage 5940 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses the legal status of a slave who exposes the murder of his master, the rights of a patron when a freedman dies as a captive of enemies, the relationship of rights between a deported or captured patron and his children, and the exclusion of the patron when the inheritance is restored to the freedman's son.

[PAULUS libro quadragensimo secundo ad edictum. ] §38.2.4.prSi necem domini detexerit seruus, praetor statuere solet, ut liber sit: et constat eum quasi ex senatus consulto libertatem consecutum nullius esse libertum.
[PAULUS libro quadragensimo secundo ad edictum.] If a slave has uncovered the murder of his master, the praetor is accustomed to decree that he be free; and it is established that he, as if having obtained freedom from a decree of the senate, is the freedman of no one.
§38.2.4.1Si libertus captus ab hostibus ibi decesserit, quamuis liberti appellatio eum non tangat, tamen propter legem Corneliam, quae testamentum sic confirmat atque si in ciuitate decesserit, patrono quoque bonorum possessio danda erit.
If a freedman captured by enemies has died there, although the designation of freedman does not apply to him, nevertheless, on account of the Cornelian law, which confirms a will just as if he had died in the state, the possession of goods must also be given to the patron.
§38.2.4.2Si deportatus patronus sit, filio cius competit bonorum possessio in bonis liberti nec impedimento est ei talis patronus, qui mortui loco habetur.
If a patron has been deported, the possession of goods in the property of the freedman belongs to his son, and such a patron, who is held in the place of a dead man, is not an impediment to him.
et dissimile est, si patronus apud hostes sit: nam propter spem postliminii obstat liberis suis.
And it is different if the patron is among the enemies; for on account of the hope of postliminium, he stands in the way of his children.
§38.2.4.3Si extraneus a liberto heres institutus rogatus sit filio hereditatem restituere, cum ex senatus consulto Trebelliano restituta hereditate heredis loco filius habetur, patronus summouendus est.
If an outsider appointed heir by a freedman has been requested to restore the inheritance to the son, since upon the restoration of the inheritance under the Trebellian decree of the senate the son is held in the place of an heir, the patron must be barred.

Notes

  1. §38.2.4.prquasi ex senatus consulto libertatem consecutum — The participle consecutum modifies eum (the accusative subject of the infinitive esse in the indirect statement). quasi indicates a legal fiction, describing an exceptional acquisition of freedom without a specific patron.
  2. §38.2.4.1quamuis liberti appellatio eum non tangat — A concessive clause with the subjunctive present tangat. Since a captive of enemies temporarily falls into a state akin to slavery, the term 'freedman' strictly no longer applies to him, but this is remedied by the fiction of the Lex Cornelia.
  3. §38.2.4.2filio cius — The text cius is a typo for eius, referring to 'his (the patron's) son.'
  4. §38.2.4.2impedimento est ei — Double dative construction, consisting of the dative of purpose/effect impedimento (as an impediment) and the dative of interest ei (for him, i.e., the son).
  5. §38.2.4.3filio — In this context, it refers to the 'son of the freedman' rather than the patron's. When a freedman left a trust to restore the inheritance to his own son, the son is treated as the heir under the Senatus Consultum Trebellianum, thereby blocking the patron's claim.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.2.4.pr-38.2.4.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.2.4.pr-38.2.4.3

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