Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.4.51.pr-40.4.51.1

Centurion's Bequest of Freedom and Condition of No Offense

Passage 6399 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This passage discusses the validity of a bequest of freedom by a centurion and the specific criteria for interpreting the condition of "being without offense" for the manumission of slaves.

[IDEM libro quarto decimo responsorum. ] §40.4.51.prTestamento centurio seruos suos uenire prohibuit ac petit, prout quisque meruisset, eos manumitti.
[THE SAME AUTHOR in the fourteenth book of Opinions.] In a testament, a centurion prohibited his slaves from being sold and requested that they be manumitted according as each had deserved.
libertates utiliter datas respondit, cum, si nemo seruorum offenderit, omnes ad libertatem peruenire possunt: quibusdam autem per offensam exclusis residui in libertatem perueniunt.
He replied that the freedoms were validly given, since, if none of the slaves committed an offense, all could attain freedom; but if some were excluded because of an offense, the rest would attain freedom.
§40.4.51.1Cum ita testamento adscriptum esset: 'serui, qui sine offensa fuerunt, liberi sunto', condicionem adscriptam uideri placuit, cuius interpretationem talem faciendam, ut de his in libertate danda cogitasse non uideatur, quos poena coercuit aut ab honore ministrandi uel administrandae rei negotio remouit.
When it was written in a testament as follows: 'Let the slaves who have been without offense be free,' it was pleased that a condition should be held to have been added, the interpretation of which must be made in such a way that the testator should not be deemed to have thought of granting freedom to those whom punishment had chastised, or whom he had removed from the honor of ministering or from the business of administering property.

Notes

  1. 40.4.51.pruenire — This is the present active infinitive of the verb ueneo (to be sold), which functions as the passive of uendo (to sell), not to be confused with the infinitive of uenio (to come).
  2. 40.4.51.prlibertates utiliter datas — This is an accusative with infinitive construction (indirect speech) governed by respondit, with the auxiliary verb esse omitted. The participle datas agrees with the feminine plural subject accusative libertates.
  3. 40.4.51.1cuius interpretationem talem faciendam — A gerundive construction denoting necessity with esse omitted after faciendam. It begins with the genitive relative pronoun cuius referring to the antecedent condicionem, and the entire clause is governed by placuit.
  4. 40.4.51.1in libertate danda — A gerundive construction in the ablative case with the preposition in, meaning "in granting freedom" or "on the occasion of giving freedom."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.4.51.pr-40.4.51.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.4.51.pr-40.4.51.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.