Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.4.60.pr

Grant of Freedom via Legacy Terms and Status Prejudice

Passage 6408 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Regarding a case where a will leaves a legacy to a person on the ground that he was born after his mother's manumission, but he cannot prove this fact, it is asked whether he can obtain freedom from the words of the will; the jurist responds that such an inquiry should not create a prejudice concerning his status.

[SCAEUOLA libro uicensimo quarto digestorum. ] §40.4.60.prTestamento ita cauit: 'Εὔδοπι βούλομαι δοθῆναι νομίσματα χίλια, ἐπεὶ ἔφθασεν γεννηθῆναι μετὰ τὸ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι ἐλευθέραν': quaero, an, si Eudo non probet se post manumissionem matris suae natum, possit his uerbis testamenti libertatem consequi.
[SCAEVOLA in the twenty-fourth book of the Digests.] He provided as follows in his will: "I wish a thousand coins to be given to Eudo, since he was born after his mother became free." I ask whether, if Eudo cannot prove that he was born after the manumission of his mother, he can obtain his freedom by these words of the will.
respondit non oportere eiusmodi consultationem praeiudicium parare.
He answered that an inquiry of this kind ought not to create a prejudice.

Notes

  1. §40.4.60.prἔφθασεν γεννηθῆναι — The verb φθάνω (aorist ἔφθασα), which typically means "to anticipate" or "do beforehand" often with a participle, can in later Greek take an infinitive to mean simply "to happen to do" or "already to have done." Here it expresses the fact that he was indeed born after his mother had become free.
  2. §40.4.60.prpraeiudicium parare — In a legal context, *praeiudicium* refers to a preliminary judgment or a prejudice/disadvantage resulting from it. The answer means that this inquiry regarding the interpretation of the will should not create an unfavorable prejudice or a preliminary decision regarding his actual status (i.e., whether he was born free or not), even if he cannot prove the fact.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.4.60.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.4.60.pr

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