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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §4.3.32.pr

Manumission before Accounting and Action for Fraud

Passage 693 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In a case where a co-heir was requested by trust to manumit a slave after rendering accounts but did so beforehand, it was ruled that although he is not liable under the trust itself, he may face an action for fraud if he acted in bad faith to avoid rendering the accounts.

[SCAEUOLA libro secundo digestorum. ] §4.3.32.prFilius legatum sibi seruum per praeceptionem rogatus manumittere post certum tempus, posteaquam rationes ipsi et coheredibus fratribus reddidisset, ante diem et ante redditas rationes ad libertatem uindicta manumittendo perduxerat: quaesitum est, an ex fideicommisso fratribus tenetur, ut rationes eorum pro portionibus redderet.
[SCAEUOLA libro secundo digestorum.] A son, who had been requested by way of trust to manumit a slave bequeathed to him by preception after a certain period, and after he should have rendered accounts to himself and his co-heir brothers, had brought the slave to freedom by manumitting him by vindicta before the appointed day and before rendering the accounts. The question was asked whether he is bound to his brothers under the trust to render their accounts in proportion to their shares.
respondi, cum liberum fecisset, ex causa quidem fideicommissi non teneri: uerum si ideo properasset manumittere, ne rationes fratribus redderet, posse de dolo actionem in eum exercere.
I replied that, since he had made him free, he is indeed not bound on the ground of the trust; but if he had hastened to manumit him for the very purpose of not rendering the accounts to his brothers, an action for fraud can be brought against him.

Notes

  1. §4.3.32.prante redditas rationes — The preposition `ante` followed by the noun `rationes` and the perfect passive participle `redditas` functions as an 'ab urbe condita' construction, meaning 'before the rendering of accounts' rather than 'before the accounts which had been rendered.'
  2. §4.3.32.prFilius legatum sibi seruum per praeceptionem rogatus manumittere... perduxerat — The core grammatical skeleton is `Filius` (subject) `perduxerat` (verb) `seruum` (object). Complex nesting is created by `legatum` (participle modifying `seruum`) and `rogatus` (participle modifying `Filius`, indicating the request for a trust).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §4.3.32.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:4.3.32.pr

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