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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.4.9.pr-40.4.9.1

Conditional Freedom on Non-Manumission and Prohibitions

Passage 6357 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This text discusses the validity of conditional freedom and legacies when a slave is bequeathed on the condition of manumission but not freed, as well as the scope of application of testamentary prohibitions on manumission.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo quarto ad Sabinum. ] §40.4.9.prSi quis ita legatus sit, ut manumittatur, si manumissus non fuerit, liber esse iussus est eique legetur: et libertatem competere et legatum deberi saepe responsum est.
[ULPIANUS in the twenty-fourth book on Sabinus.] If anyone has been left as a legacy on the condition that he be manumitted, and if he should not be manumitted, he is ordered to be free and a legacy is left to him: it has often been answered both that the freedom belongs to him and that the legacy is due.
§40.4.9.1Quod constitutum est uetitum in testamento ad libertatem perduci non posse manumitti, hoc ad eos pertinere puto, qui testatoris fuerunt uel heredis: seruo enim alieno id irrogari non poterit.
As to the rule established that one who is forbidden in a testament to be manumitted cannot be brought to freedom, I think this applies to those who belonged to the testator or to the heir: for such a restriction cannot be imposed on another person's slave.

Notes

  1. 40.4.9.preique legetur — The verb legetur (future passive or present subjunctive passive third-person singular) is coordinated with liber esse iussus est within the conditional si-clause, representing a hypothetical provision in a testament. This legacy refers back to the subject of legatum deberi in the accusative with infinitive clause of the main sentence.
  2. 40.4.9.1uetitum in testamento ad libertatem perduci non posse manumitti — The participle uetitum (accusative of uetitus) accompanied by the passive infinitive manumitti ('to be manumitted') forms an accusative with infinitive construction acting as the subject of posse ('that one who is forbidden in a testament to be manumitted cannot be brought to freedom'). The entire clause is the content of the noun clause introduced by Quod constitutum est.
  3. 40.4.9.1testatoris fuerunt uel heredis — The genitives testatoris and heredis are genitives of possession, functioning as the complement of fuerunt (the subject being the relative pronoun qui) to mean 'belonged to the testator or to the heir'.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.4.9.pr-40.4.9.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.4.9.pr-40.4.9.1

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