Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §38.3.1.pr-38.3.1.2

Rights of Municipalities to Freedmen Goods

Passage 5988 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk discusses that municipalities hold full rights over the property of their freedmen, and establishes their capability to petition for the possession of goods and when the time limit for doing so begins to run.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo nono ad edictum. ] §38.3.1.prMunicipibus plenum ius in bonis libertorum libertarum defertur, hoc est id ius quod etiam patrono.
[ULPIANUS in the forty-ninth book on the Edict.] To the members of a municipality, the full right to the goods of their freedmen and freedwomen is deferred, that is, the same right which is also granted to a patron.
§38.3.1.1Sed an omnino petere bonorum possessionem possint, dubitatur: mouet enim, quod consentire non possunt, sed per alium possunt petita bonorum possessione ipsi adquirere.
But it is doubted whether they can petition for the possession of goods at all: for it causes concern that they cannot give consent, but they can, through another person, acquire for themselves the possession of goods once it has been petitioned for.
sed qua ratione senatus censuit, ut restitui eis ex Trebelliano hereditas possit: qua ratione alio senatus consulto heredibus eis institutis a liberto adquirere hereditatem permissum est: ita bonorum quoque possessionem petere dicendum est.
But by the same reasoning as the senate decreed that an inheritance could be restored to them under the Trebellian senatusconsult, and by the same reasoning as by another senatusconsult they were permitted to acquire an inheritance from a freedman when they were appointed heirs: so also it must be said that they can petition for the possession of goods.
§38.3.1.2Temporaque bonorum possessionis petendae cedere municipibus exinde, ex quo decernere de petenda potuerunt.
And the period for petitioning for the possession of goods runs for the members of a municipality from the time when they were first able to decree concerning the petition.
quod et Papinianus respondit.
This is also what Papinianus answered.

Notes

  1. 38.3.1.1mouet enim, quod consentire non possunt — Used either impersonally or with the quod-clause as the subject, meaning "the fact that they cannot consent causes concern / moves the question." Since a municipality (municipes) as a corporate body cannot directly express consent like a natural person, this was raised as a potential obstacle to petitioning for the possession of goods.
  2. 38.3.1.1petita bonorum possessione — An ablative absolute construction with the perfect participle petita. It functions as a condition or the object of the main verb adquirere ("by petitioning for the possession of goods" or "the possession of goods having been petitioned for").
  3. 38.3.1.2Temporaque ... cedere — Here, cedere is used in the legal sense of periods of time (tempora) "beginning to run" or "accruing" for someone, taking the dative municipibus ("for the members of a municipality").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §38.3.1.pr-38.3.1.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:38.3.1.pr-38.3.1.2

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.