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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.1.1.pr

Calculation of Age and the Twenty-Year Limit for Manumission

Passage 6295 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the legal calculation of age regarding the capacity to manumit, stating that a person born on January 1st can manumit after midnight on December 31st, because the law forbids those under twenty rather than granting permission to those over twenty.

[ULPIANUS libro sexto ad Sabinum. ] §40.1.1.prPlacuit eum, qui calendis Ianuariis natus est, post sextam noctis pridie kalendas, quasi annum uicensimum compleuerit, posse manumittere: non enim maiori uiginti annis permitti manumittere, sed minorem manumittere uetari: iam autem minor non est, qui diem supremum agit anni uicensimi.
[ULPIANUS libro sexto ad Sabinum.] It has been decided that a person who was born on the Calends of January can manumit after the sixth hour of the night on the day before the Calends, as if he had completed his twentieth year; for it is not that permission to manumit is granted to one older than twenty years, but that one younger is forbidden to manumit; moreover, he who is passing the last day of his twentieth year is no longer younger.

Notes

  1. 40.1.1.prpost sextam noctis pridie kalendas — "Post sextam noctis" (after the sixth hour of the night) refers to the time past midnight, as the Roman night was divided into twelve equal hours from sunset to sunrise. Combined with "pridie kalendas" (the day before the Calends, i.e., December 31), it denotes the moment immediately after midnight on December 31.
  2. 40.1.1.prnon enim maiori uiginti annis permitti manumittere, sed minorem manumittere uetari — Two accusative-with-infinitives, acting as the ground for "placuit" under "enim", are contrasted. The former is the impersonal passive infinitive "permitti" with "maiori" (dative, modified by the ablative of comparison "uiginti annis") as its indirect object; the latter is the passive infinitive "uetari" with the subject accusative "minorem". This contrast highlights that the law is framed as a negative prohibition rather than a positive permission, justifying why a person is no longer "younger" as soon as the final day begins.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.1.1.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.1.1.pr

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