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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.1.12.pr

Prohibition of Manumission and Its Starting Point under Lex Fabia

Passage 6306 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses the Lex Fabia's ten-year prohibition on manumitting a slave who committed kidnapping for which the master paid the penalty, clarifying that the starting point is the testator's death, not the making of the testament.

[IDEM libro quinquagensimo ad edictum. ] §40.1.12.prLege Fabia prohibetur seruus, qui plagium admisit, pro quo dominus poenam intulit, intra decem annos manumitti.
[THE SAME, in the fiftieth book on the Edict.] By the Lex Fabia, a slave who has committed kidnapping, and for whom his master has paid the penalty, is forbidden to be manumitted within ten years.
in hoc tamen non testamenti facti tempus, sed mortis intuebimur.
In this matter, however, we shall look not to the time when the testament was made, but to the time of death.

Notes

  1. §40.1.12.prpro quo — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quo can be interpreted either as the preceding plagium (neuter singular: kidnapping) or as the subject of the main clause, seruus (masculine singular: slave). Whether the master paid the penalty 'for the crime' or 'for the slave' (on the slave's behalf), the practical meaning remains the same.
  2. §40.1.12.prtestamenti facti — The genitive combination of the noun testamentum (testament) and the perfect participle factum (made) functions as a dominant participle construction, meaning 'of the making of the testament', which modifies tempus (time).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.1.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.1.12.pr

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