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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.4.47.pr-40.4.47.1

Compensation for Mistaken Manumission under False Codicil

Passage 6395 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text discusses the compensation required when a slave is freed by mistake based on a false codicil, and applies the same rule to cases where an instituted heir frees a slave but the will is later declared invalid.

[PAPINIANUS libro sexto quaestionum. ] §40.4.47.prCum ex falsis codicillis per errorem libertas, licet non debita, praestita tamen ab herede fuisset, uiginti solidos a singulis hominibus inferendos esse heredi princeps constituit.
[PAPINIANUS in the sixth book of Questions.] When freedom, although not due, had nevertheless been granted by the heir through mistake on the basis of a false codicil, the Emperor established that twenty solidi must be paid to the heir by each of the individuals.
§40.4.47.1Sed et si condicionis implendae gratia seruum institutus manumiserit ac postea filius de inofficioso agendo tenuerit uel testamentum falsum fuerit pronuntiatum, consequens erit idem in hac specie fieri, quod in falsis codicillis constitutum est.
But also if the instituted heir, for the sake of fulfilling a condition, has manumitted a slave, and afterwards the son has prevailed in an action regarding an undutiful testament, or the testament has been pronounced false, it will be a logical consequence that the same thing is done in this case as was established in the case of false codicils.

Notes

  1. 40.4.47.pra singulis hominibus inferendos esse heredi — Although the agent of a passive periphrastic conjugation using a gerundive is normally expressed in the dative, here it is expressed by the ablative with the preposition a (a singulis hominibus) to avoid confusion with the recipient heredi (dative).
  2. 40.4.47.1de inofficioso agendo tenuerit — The phrase "de inofficioso agendo" refers to bringing an action (gerund agendo) regarding an undutiful testament (querela inofficiosi testamenti). The verb "tenere" is used here as a legal term meaning "to prevail" or "to win the case," with "filius" as its subject.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.4.47.pr-40.4.47.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.4.47.pr-40.4.47.1

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