Institution of Necessary Heirs and Manumission under the Lex Aelia Sentia

Notes

1. §40.4.27.prpotuerint — Future perfect indicative or perfect subjunctive. It refers to a condition temporally prior to the main verb 'possunt', meaning 'those who have been able to' or 'those who would be able to'.
2. §40.4.27.prapud consilium — Refers to the council established under the Lex Aelia Sentia to examine the 'just cause' (iusta causa) in cases of manumission by a master under twenty years of age, or of a slave under thirty years of age.
3. §40.4.27.prnecessarium heredem — Meaning 'necessary heir'. When a master appoints his own slave as heir along with the grant of freedom, the slave becomes a necessary heir (heres necessarius) who has no right to refuse the inheritance. Here it implies the necessity of making a slave an heir, for instance, to avoid insolvency or to maintain the household.
4. §40.4.27.prprobabilem faciat manumissionem — Predicate construction within the ut-clause, with 'haec ipsa necessitas' (this very necessity of making him a necessary heir) as the subject. 'Probabilis' means 'provable' or 'acceptable', implying that this necessity provides a sufficient reason to make the manumission approved (probare) by the council under the Lex Aelia Sentia.