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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.1.6.pr

Return of Freedom Purchase Money and Peculium Accounting

Passage 6300 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A case addressing whether money paid by a slave for his freedom should be returned by the heirs, decided based on whether the deceased master had merged it into his own accounts or kept it credited to the slave's peculium.

[ALFENUS VARUS libro quarto digestorum. ] §40.1.6.prSeruus pecuniam ob libertatem pactus erat et eam domino dederat: dominus prius quam eum manumitteret, mortuus erat testamentoque liberum esse iusserat et ei peculium suum legauerat.
[ALFENUS VARUS, in the fourth book of Digests.] A slave had agreed on a sum of money for his freedom and had given it to his master; the master had died before he could manumit him, and had ordered in his will that the slave be free and had bequeathed to him his peculium.
consulebat, quam pecuniam domino dedisset ob libertatem, an eam sibi heredes patroni reddere deberent necne.
An inquiry was made as to whether the heirs of the patron ought to return to him the money which he had given to his master for his freedom, or not.
respondit, si eam pecuniam dominus, posteaquam accepisset, in suae pecuniae rationem habuisset, statim desisse eius peculii esse: sed si interea, dum eum manumitteret, acceptum seruo rettulisset, uideri peculii fuisse et debere heredes eam pecuniam manumisso reddere.
He answered that if the master, after he had received that money, had entered it into the account of his own money, it had immediately ceased to be part of his peculium; but if, in the meantime, until he should manumit him, he had entered it as received from the slave, it seemed to have been part of the peculium, and the heirs ought to return that money to the manumitted slave.

Notes

  1. §40.1.6.prquam pecuniam domino dedisset ob libertatem, an eam sibi heredes — The antecedent `pecuniam` is incorporated into the relative clause `quam pecuniam domino dedisset ob libertatem`, which is placed before the `an` clause. Logically, the structure is: `an heredes patroni eam pecuniam, quam [seruus] domino ob libertatem dedisset, sibi reddere deberent` ('whether the heirs of the patron ought to return to him that money which the slave had given to the master for his freedom').
  2. §40.1.6.pracceptum seruo rettulisset — This is based on the Roman accounting term `acceptum referre` (to enter as received), using the verb `referre` and the substantivized neuter participle `acceptum` (what has been received). Here, combined with the dative `seruo`, it means 'had credited it back to the slave' (i.e., entered it as received to the slave's peculium account). `rettulisset` is the pluperfect subjunctive of `referre`.
  3. §40.1.6.prdesisse eius peculii esse — `desisse` is a contracted form of the infinitive `desivisse` (from `desino`, 'to cease'). The following `eius peculii esse` uses the genitive of possession or characteristic with `esse` ('to belong to his peculium'), meaning as a whole 'had immediately ceased to belong to his peculium.'

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.1.6.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.1.6.pr

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