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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.2.13.pr

Just Causes for Manumission Based on Upbringing or Marriage

Passage 6333 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpianus explains that intimate relationships, such as being a foster-brother, educator, pedagogue, nurse, alumnus, or capsarius, as well as the purpose of becoming a procurator or marriage, constitute just causes for manumission, detailing their specific requirements, age limits, and senatorial decrees.

[IDEM libro de officio proconsulis. ] §40.2.13.prsi collactaneus, si educator, si paedagogus ipsius, si nutrix, uel filius filiaue cuius eorum, uel alumnus, uel capsarius (id est qui portat libros), uel si in hoc manumittatur, ut procurator sit, dummodo non minor annis decem et octo sit.
[THE SAME, in the book On the Office of Proconsul.] if he is a foster-brother, if an educator, if his own pedagogue, if a nurse, or the son or daughter of any of them, or an alumnus, or a capsarius (that is, one who carries books), or if he is manumitted for this purpose, that he may be a procurator, provided that he is not less than eighteen years of age.
praeterea et illud exigitur, ut non utique unum seruum habeat, qui manumittit.
Furthermore, it is also required that the person who manumits does not have only one slave in any case.
item si matrimonii causa uirgo uel mulier manumittatur, exacto prius iureiurando, ut intra sex menses uxorem eam duci oporteat: ita enim senatus censuit.
Likewise, if a virgin or a woman is manumitted for the sake of marriage, an oath having first been exacted that she must be taken as a wife within six months; for so the senate decreed.

Notes

  1. §40.2.13.prdummodo non minor annis decem et octo sit — The subject of the restrictive clause `dummodo... sit` with the subjunctive present is the slave being manumitted (the one who is to be a procurator), understood from the preceding `manumittatur`. `annis` (ablative plural) is an ablative of comparison depending on the comparative `minor`.
  2. §40.2.13.prexacto prius iureiurando, ut intra sex menses uxorem eam duci oporteat — `exacto... iureiurando` is an ablative absolute consisting of the noun `iureiurando` and the perfect participle `exacto`. The `ut` clause is a noun clause expressing the content of the oath. Within this clause, `eam` (accusative singular feminine, referring to the manumitted woman) is the subject accusative of the passive infinitive `duci`, and `uxorem` is its predicate accusative, forming an accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction which serves as the subject of the impersonal verb `oporteat`.
  3. §40.2.13.prnon utique unum seruum habeat, qui manumittit — The subject of `habeat` is also the antecedent of the relative clause `qui manumittit`. The adverb `utique` combined with the negative `non` expresses a partial negation ("not in any case" or "not simply"). This reflects the legal intention of preventing a slave owner from being left with no slaves at all by manumitting their only slave.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.2.13.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.2.13.pr

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