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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §4.8.7.pr-4.8.7.1

Status of Arbitrators and Ineligibility of Slaves

Passage 828 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains that an arbiter's social status or reputation does not affect the validity of an arbitration agreement, but a slave cannot be an arbiter; consequently, a free person appointed jointly with a slave is not compelled to render an award alone, and if he does, no penalty is incurred.

[ULPIANUS libro tertio decimo ad edictum. ] §4.8.7.prPedius libro nono et Pomponius libro trigensimo tertio scribunt parui referre, ingenuus quis an libertinus sit, integrae famae quis sit arbiter an ignominiosus.
[ULPIANUS in his thirteenth book on the Edict.] Pedius in his ninth book and Pomponius in his thirty-third book write that it matters little whether an arbiter is freeborn or a freedman, or whether he is of unimpaired reputation or infamous.
in seruum Labeo compromitti non posse libro undecimo scribit: et est uerum.
Labeo writes in his eleventh book that a submission to arbitration cannot be made to a slave: and this is true.
§4.8.7.1Unde Iulianus ait, si in Titium et seruum compromissum sit, nec Titium cogendum sententiam dicere, quia cum alio receperit: quamuis serui, inquit, arbiterium nullum sit.
Hence Julian says that if a submission to arbitration has been made to Titius and a slave, Titius also should not be compelled to render an award, because he accepted the undertaking together with another: although, he says, the decision of a slave is null.
quid tamen si dixerit sententiam Titius? poena non committitur, quia non, ut receperit, dixit sententiam.
What, however, if Titius has rendered an award? The penalty is not incurred, because he did not render his award as he had accepted the undertaking.

Notes

  1. §4.8.7.prparui referre — The genitive of value parui is used with the impersonal verb referre to form an infinitive clause meaning 'it matters little' in indirect speech, with the subsequent indirect questions functioning as the subject.
  2. §4.8.7.printegrae famae — A genitive of quality modifying the following pronoun quis, meaning 'one of unimpaired reputation' or 'of untarnished character', standing in contrast with ignominiosus ('infamous').
  3. §4.8.7.prcompromitti — The present passive infinitive of the intransitive verb compromittere, used impersonally here with in seruum ('against/to a slave') to mean that a submission to arbitration cannot be made to a slave.
  4. §4.8.7.1non, ut receperit, dixit sententiam — The conjunction ut ('as', 'in the manner that') introduces a clause with the perfect subjunctive receperit. Since Titius accepted the undertaking (receperit) jointly with another, rendering an award alone means he did not render it 'as he had accepted it'; therefore, no penalty for breach of the submission is incurred.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §4.8.7.pr-4.8.7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:4.8.7.pr-4.8.7.1

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