Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.2.3.pr

Retroactive Validity of Manumission upon Legatee Repudiation

Passage 6323 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses cases where a bequeathed slave is manumitted by an heir or one of the co-legatees, and the manumission becomes retroactively valid due to the legatee's subsequent repudiation of the legacy.

[IDEM libro quarto disputationum. ] §40.2.3.prSi heres seruum legatum manumittat, mox repudiet legatarius, retro competit libertas.

[THE SAME, in the fourth book of disputations.] If an heir manumits a bequeathed slave, and soon afterwards the legatee repudiates [the legacy], freedom is retroactively competent.

idemque est et si duobus pure seruus legetur et post alterius manumissionem alter repudiauerit: nam et hic retro libertas competit.

And the same is true also if a slave is bequeathed unconditionally to two persons, and after the manumission by one [of them], the other has repudiated [the legacy]; for here too, freedom is retroactively competent.

Notes

40.2.3.prSi heres seruum legatum manumittat, mox repudiet legatarius, retro competit libertas — While the verbs in the protasis are in the present subjunctive (`manumittat`, `repudiet`), the apodosis uses the present indicative (`competit`). This is a mixed conditional structure typical in juristic literature to state a hypothesized scenario and its definite legal consequence.
40.2.3.pralterius — Refers to one of the two legatees mentioned in `duobus`. It functions as a subjective genitive modifying `manumissionem` ("manumission by one [of them]"), indicating that one of the co-legatees manumitted the slave.
40.2.3.prretro competit — Meaning "takes effect retroactively" or "is retroactively competent." Due to the repudiation of the legacy by the other legatee, the legatee who performed the manumission is deemed to have received the sole legacy from the beginning, making the act of manumission valid retroactively (`retro`) from the moment it was performed.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.2.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.2.3.pr

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