Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.13.3.pr

Denial of Freedom to Children of Self-Sold Women

Passage 6612 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Pomponius states that the rule denying the right to claim freedom to those who allowed themselves to be sold also applies to children born to women during their period of slavery under such conditions.

[POMPONIUS libro undecimo epistularum et uariarum lectionum. ] §40.13.3.prEis, qui se passi sint uenire, ad libertatem proclamandi licentiam denegari.
[POMPONIUS, in the eleventh book of Letters and Various Readings.] Permission to claim freedom is denied to those who have allowed themselves to be sold.
quaero, an et ad eos, qui ex mulieribus, quae se passae sint uenire, nascuntur, ita senatus consulta pertinent? dubitari non potest, quin ei quoque, quae maior annis uiginti uenire se passa est, ad libertatem proclamandi licentia fuerit deneganda.
I ask whether the decrees of the senate likewise apply to those who are born of women who have allowed themselves to be sold? It cannot be doubted that permission to claim freedom should also have been denied to a woman who, being over twenty years of age, allowed herself to be sold.
his quoque danda non est, qui ex ea nati tempore seruitutis eius erunt.
It must also not be given to those who are born of her during the time of her slavery.

Notes

  1. §40.13.3.pruenire — Active infinitive present of the irregular verb ueneo (to be sold), which has a passive meaning, rather than the passive infinitive uendi of uendo (to sell).
  2. §40.13.3.prmaior annis uiginti — The ablative of comparison annis uiginti is used with the comparative maior, meaning 'older than twenty years.' In Roman law, if a free person over twenty years old fraudulently allowed themselves to be sold as a slave, they were barred from reclaiming their freedom.
  3. §40.13.3.prdanda non est — The subject (a feminine singular noun) is omitted. It is understood from the context by supplying licentia (permission to claim freedom) from the preceding sentence.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.13.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.13.3.pr

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