Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.1.8.pr-40.1.8.3

Invalidity of Manumissions by Penal Slaves and Criminals

Passage 6302 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Marcianus explains that penal slaves, those accused of capital crimes, those who manumit in anticipation of conviction, or those who manumit to escape prosecution lack the capacity to manumit, or their manumissions are invalid.

[MARCIANUS libro tertio decimo institutionum. ] §40.1.8.prQui poenae serui efficiuntur, indubitate manumittere non possunt, quia et ipsi serui sunt.
[MARCIANUS, in the thirteenth book of Institutes.] Those who are made slaves of punishment cannot, beyond doubt, manumit, because they themselves are also slaves.
§40.1.8.1Sed nec rei capitalium criminum manumittere seruos suos possunt, ut et senatus censuit.
But neither can those accused of capital crimes manumit their slaves, as the senate also decreed.
§40.1.8.2Diuus quoque Pius Calpurnio rescripsit libertates ab eo, qui iam lege Cornelia damnatus esset uel, cum futurum prospiceret ut damnaretur, seruis datas non competere.
The deified Pius also wrote in a rescript to Calpurnius that freedoms given to slaves by one who had already been condemned under the Lex Cornelia, or who, when he foresaw that he would be condemned, are of no effect.
§40.1.8.3Sed ne quidem illos ad iustam libertatem peruenire diuus Hadrianus rescripsit, qui ideo manumissi sunt, ut crimini subtraherentur.
But the deified Hadrian wrote in a rescript that not even those attain to lawful freedom who were manumitted for the purpose of being withdrawn from a criminal charge.

Notes

  1. §40.1.8.prpoenae serui — Meaning "slaves of punishment". "poenae" is a genitive modifying "serui", referring to those condemned to the mines or to fight wild beasts, who lost their legal capacity and became slaves of the punishment itself.
  2. §40.1.8.2futurum prospiceret ut damnaretur — This structure consists of the accusative "futurum" used substantively as the direct object of "prospiceret" (subjunctive imperfect), explained by the "ut" clause ("ut damnaretur"). Literally, "when he foresaw the future event that he would be condemned".
  3. §40.1.8.3crimini subtraherentur — "crimini" is a dative of separation (often used with compound verbs like "subtraho"). It means "to be withdrawn or exempted from a (criminal) charge or prosecution".

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.1.8.pr-40.1.8.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.1.8.pr-40.1.8.3

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.