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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.14.2.pr-40.14.2.2

Claims of Freedom by Self-Sellers and Time Limits for Freedmen

Passage 6616 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk outlines the restrictions on claiming freedom for those who allowed themselves to be sold as adults for profit, and sets a five-year limit for freedmen to claim freeborn status.

[SATURNINUS libro primo de officio proconsulis. ] §40.14.2.prQui se uenire passus esset maiorem, scilicet ut pretium ad ipsum perueniret, prohibendum de libertate contendere diuus Hadrianus constituit: sed interdum ita contendendum permisit, si pretium suum reddidisset.
[SATURNINUS, in the First Book on the Office of Proconsul.] The deified Hadrian decreed that he who, being of full age, had allowed himself to be sold, namely, so that the price might reach him, must be prohibited from contending for his freedom; but he sometimes permitted him to contend in this way, if he had returned his purchase price.
§40.14.2.1Qui se ex libertinitate ingenuitati adserant, non ultra quinquennium, quam manumissi fuissent, audientur.
Those who claim themselves for freeborn status from the condition of a freedman shall not be heard beyond five years from when they were manumitted.
§40.14.2.2Qui post quinquennium repperisse instrumenta ingenuitatis suae adseuerant, de ea re ipsos principes adire oportere cognituros.
Those who assert that they have found the documents of their free birth after five years must petition the emperors themselves, who will investigate the matter.

Notes

  1. §40.14.2.pruenire — This is the present active infinitive of ueneo (to be sold), serving as the passive counterpart of uendo (to sell), not to be confused with uenire (to come) which has a short 'e'.
  2. §40.14.2.prmaiorem — Accusative masculine singular, modifying the reflexive pronoun se. It refers to a person of full age (specifically, over twenty years old in Roman law), which is a crucial condition for the application of this rule against fraudulent self-sale.
  3. §40.14.2.1quinquennium, quam — The conjunction quam is used here after ultra (which carries a comparative force) to express "after" or "since" (literally, "no longer than five years since they were manumitted").
  4. §40.14.2.2cognituros — Future active participle of cognosco (to investigate, try a case) in the accusative masculine plural, modifying principes. It expresses the future role or purpose of the emperors ("who are going to hear the case").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.14.2.pr-40.14.2.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.14.2.pr-40.14.2.2

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