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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.4.7.pr

Effective Date of Manumission Conditioned on Childlessness

Passage 6355 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Citing the opinion of Neratius, the text discusses the status of a slave whose freedom is conditioned on the absence of a child, specifically during the period when a posthumous child is expected, and whether his freedom applies retroactively if no child is born.

[IDEM libro nono decimo ad Sabinum. ] §40.4.7.prNeratius scribit eius, cui libertas sic data est 'si mihi nullus filius erit cum moriar, Stichus liber esto', impediri libertatem postumo nato.
[THE SAME in the nineteenth book on Sabinus.] Neratius writes that, in the case of a slave to whom freedom was given in this manner: 'If I have no son when I die, let Stichus be free,' his freedom is barred by the birth of a posthumous child.
sed dum speratur nasci, utrum in seruitute remanere dicimus an uero ex postfacto respondemus retro liberum fuisse nullo filio nato? quod magis arbitror probandum.
But while the child is expected to be born, do we say that he remains in slavery, or rather do we answer that, after the event, if no son has been born, he was free retrospectively? I think that the latter opinion is rather to be approved.

Notes

  1. 40.4.7.preius, cui libertas sic data est... impediri libertatem — eius is the antecedent of the relative clause cui... data est, and functions as a possessive genitive modifying libertatem, which is the subject of the accusative-and-infinitival clause dependent on scribit.
  2. 40.4.7.prpostumo nato — An ablative phrase representing the birth of a posthumous child (postumus). It is interpreted either as an ablative absolute or an ablative of cause, meaning 'by the birth of a posthumous child' (which prevents the fulfillment of the condition of freedom).
  3. 40.4.7.prquod — A relative pronoun of connection (nexus relativus) referring to the latter alternative of the preceding double question (retro liberum fuisse...). It functions as the subject of the gerundive phrase (quod probandum [esse]) which is the object of arbitror.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.4.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.4.7.pr

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