[IDEM libro quinquagensimo quinto ad edictum. ] §40.12.8.prCognitio de liberali causa usufructuario datur, etiamsi dominus quoque uelit, hoc est qui se dominum dicit, mouere status controuersiam.
[THE SAME, on the Edict, book 55.] The cognizance of a case concerning freedom is granted to a usufructuary, even if the master also, that is, the one who claims to be the master, wishes to raise a controversy concerning status.
§40.12.8.1Si plures sibi dominium serui uindicant dicentes esse communem, ad eundem iudicem mittendi erunt: et ita senatus censuit.
If several persons claim ownership of a slave for themselves, saying that he is common, they must be sent to the same judge; and so the senate resolved.
ceterum si unusquisque suum esse in solidum, non in partem dicat, cessat senatus consultum: neque enim timor est, ne uarie iudicetur, cum unusquisque solidum dominium sibi uindicet.
But if each one claims that the slave is his in entirety, and not in part, the senatusconsultum does not apply; for there is no fear lest divergent judgments be rendered, since each one claims the entire ownership for himself.
§40.12.8.2Sed et si alter usum fructum totum, alter proprietatem serui uindicet, item si alter dominium, alter pigneratum sibi dicat, idem iudex erit: et parui refert, ab eodem an ab alio ei pigneri datus sit.
But also if one claims the entire usufruct and the other the ownership of the slave, likewise if one claims ownership and the other says that the slave has been pledged to him, there shall be the same judge; and it matters little whether he was given to him as a pledge by the same person or by another.