Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.2.22.pr

Validity of Manumission by a Son Authorized by Letter

Passage 6342 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A father in a province permitted his son in Rome by letter to select and manumit a slave from his service. The text discusses the validity of this manumission, concluding that it is valid because the father merely delegated the choice while legally performing the manumission himself.

[PAULUS libro duodecimo quaestionum. ] §40.2.22.prPater ex prouincia ad filium sciens Romae agentem epistulam fecit, quae permisit ei, quem uellet ex seruis, quos in ministerio secum hic habebat, uindicta liberare: post quam filius Stichum manumisit apud praetorem: quaero, an fecerit liberum.

[PAULUS, in the twelfth book of Questions.] A father sent a letter from a province to his son, knowing that he was staying in Rome, which permitted him to liberate by vindicta whichever of the slaves he wished whom he had there with him for his personal service. After this, the son manumitted Stichus before the praetor. I ask whether he made him free.

respondi: quare non hoc concessum credamus patri, ut permittere possit filio ex his, quos in ministerio haberet, manumittere? solam enim electionem filio concessit, ceterum ipse manumittit.

I answered: why should we not believe that this is granted to a father, namely, that he can permit his son to manumit from among those whom he has for his personal service? For he granted only the choice to his son, but for the rest, he himself manumits.

Notes

40.2.22.prsciens — A present participle modifying the subject pater, taking the accusative filium and its modifying participle agentem as its object, expressing the father's awareness of his son's residence.
40.2.22.prut permittere possit — An appositive ut-clause (substantive clause) defining the content of the preceding demonstrative pronoun hoc, specifying what is granted to the father.
40.2.22.prceterum — An adverb meaning 'for the rest' or 'otherwise', contrastively showing that while only the selection (electionem) was delegated to the son, the act of manumission itself was in substance performed by the father.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.2.22.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.2.22.pr

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