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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.1.16.pr

Manumission by a Minor Son with His Father's Consent

Passage 6310 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text explains that when a son under twenty years of age manumits a slave with his father's consent, the slave becomes the father's freedman, and the otherwise required proof of cause for manumission is waived.

[MODESTINUS libro primo regularum. ] §40.1.16.prSi consentiente patre filius minor annis uiginti seruum eius manumiserit, patris faciet libertum et uacat causae probatio ob patris consensum.
[MODESTINUS, in the first book of Rules.] If, with the consent of his father, a son under twenty years of age manumits his slave, he makes him the father's freedman, and the proof of cause is superfluous because of the father's consent.

Notes

  1. §40.1.16.prconsentiente patre — An ablative absolute construction with a present participle, expressing a condition ("if the father consents").
  2. §40.1.16.prseruum eius — The pronoun eius refers to patre (the father) rather than the subject filius (the son). Under patria potestas, a filiusfamilias could not legally own separate property, so the slave being manumitted is effectively the father's property.
  3. §40.1.16.pruacat causae probatio — The verb uacare here means "to be unnecessary" or "to be dispensed with." Causae probatio (the proof of a lawful cause) was a legal requirement under the Lex Aelia Sentia for manumission by an owner under twenty, which is waived here due to the father's consent.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.1.16.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.1.16.pr

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