Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.4.36.pr

Freedom Conditioned on an Oath of Labor and Its Obligation

Passage 6384 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section explains the legal principle regarding a slave manumitted under the condition of swearing to provide labor, stating that while the oath fulfills the condition for freedom, it does not create a binding obligation to perform the labor unless the oath is taken again after manumission.

[IDEM libro septimo ad Plautium. ] §40.4.36.prSeruum testamento ita manumisi: 'si iurauerit se Cornelio filio meo decem operarum daturum, liber esto': quaeritur, quid iuris sit.
[THE SAME in the seventh book on Plautius.]\n\nI manumitted a slave by will in this manner: 'If he swears that he will give ten days of labor to my son Cornelius, let him be free': it is asked what the law is.
et sciendum est iurando seruum condicionem implere, sed non teneri operarum nomine, quia nisi post manumissionem iuret, non obligatur.
And it must be known that by swearing the slave fulfills the condition, but is not bound under the heading of the labor, because unless he swears after manumission, he is not obligated.

Notes

  1. §40.4.36.prdecem operarum — decem operarum is the genitive plural of operae (the services of a freedman), depending on daturum [esse] to denote the amount of services to be rendered (ten days of labor).
  2. §40.4.36.prsciendum est iurando seruum condicionem implere, sed non teneri — The gerundive of obligation sciendum est ("it must be known") governs two accusative-with-infinitive clauses in parallel: seruum ... implere ("that the slave fulfills the condition") and [seruum] non teneri ("that he is not bound"). iurando is the ablative of the gerund, expressing means ("by swearing").
  3. §40.4.36.prquia nisi post manumissionem iuret, non obligatur — This conditional sentence consists of nisi ... iuret (present subjunctive) and the main verb non obligatur (present indicative). The subjunctive is used in the condition to express a general, hypothetical scenario under Roman law, where a slave cannot be legally bound by an oath made while still in slavery.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.4.36.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.4.36.pr

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