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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.1.15.pr

Effective Timing of Slave Manumission Mortis Causa

Passage 6309 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses how the manumission of a slave mortis causa is interpreted and executed, comparing it to the delivery of a gift mortis causa, where freedom is conferred at the last moment of the manumitter's life, provided their will remains unchanged.

[MARCELLUS libro uicensimo tertio digestorum. ] §40.1.15.prMortis causa seruum manumitti posse non est dubitandum.
[MARCELLUS, in the twenty-third book of the Digests.] It is not to be doubted that a slave can be manumitted mortis causa.
quod non ita tibi intellegendum est, ut ita liber esse iubeatur, ut, si conualuerit dominus, non fiat liber, sed quemadmodum si uindicta eum liberaret absolute, scilicet quia moriturum se putet, mors eius exspectabitur, similiter et in hac specie in extremum tempus manumissoris uitae confertur libertas, durante scilicet (propter mortis causae tacitam condicionem) uoluntate manumissoris: quemadmodum cum rem ita tradiderit, ut moriente eo fieret accipientis, quae ita demum alienatur, si donator in eadem permanserit uoluntate.
This is not to be understood by you in such a way that he is ordered to be free on the condition that, if the master recovers, he does not become free, but just as if he were releasing him absolutely with the rod, namely because he thinks he is going to die, his death will be awaited; similarly, in this case also, freedom is conferred at the very last moment of the manumitter's life, provided, of course, that the will of the manumitter continues (due to the tacit condition of a transaction mortis causa): just as when someone has delivered a thing in such a way that upon his death it should become the property of the recipient, which thing is only then alienated if the donor has persisted in the same will.

Notes

  1. §40.1.15.prtibi — Dative of agent accompanying the gerundive 'intellegendum', indicating the person by whom the understanding must be done ('by you').
  2. §40.1.15.prquod non ita tibi intellegendum est, ut ita liber esse iubeatur, ut, si conualuerit dominus, non fiat liber — The connecting relative pronoun 'quod' at the beginning refers back to the entire preceding sentence. Within the subsequent main clause structure, two 'ut' clauses are nested. The first 'ut' clause (ut... iubeatur) expresses result or manner modifying the adverb 'ita', while the second 'ut' clause (ut... non fiat liber) specifies the content of 'iubeatur' (ordered to) or functions as a consecutive clause further limiting 'liber esse'.
  3. §40.1.15.prdurante scilicet (propter mortis causae tacitam condicionem) uoluntate manumissoris — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the present participle 'durante' and the noun 'uoluntate', representing a temporal or conditional circumstance ('so long as the will of the manumitter persists'). The prepositional phrase 'propter... condicionem' in parentheses is parenthetically inserted to explain the reason for this condition.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.1.15.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.1.15.pr

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