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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.5.31.pr-40.5.31.4

Trust Freedom of Another's Slave and Praetorian Intervention

Passage 6443 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus discusses the requirements for granting freedom to another's slave under a trust, the joint duty of performance when a posthumous child is born, the privilege of a patron, and the rules of praetorian intervention in disputes over the sale price of a slave.

[PAULUS libro tertio fideicommissorum. ] §40.5.31.prAlieno seruo dari potest per fideicommissum libertas, si tamen eius sit, cum quo testamenti factio est.
[PAULUS libro tertio fideicommissorum.] Freedom can be given to another's slave under a trust, provided, however, that he belongs to one who has the capacity to take under a testament.
§40.5.31.1Cum intestato moriturus fidei commisisset, ut seruum manumitteret, et postumus ei natus fuisset, diui fratres rescripserunt libertatem, quia diuidi non potest, ab utroque praestandam.
When a person about to die intestate had trusted someone to manumit a slave, and a posthumous child was born to him, the deified brothers replied by rescript that freedom, since it cannot be divided, must be performed by both.
§40.5.31.2Qui fideicommissariam libertatem debet, etiam eo tempore, quo alienare prohibitus erit, manumittere poterit.
He who owes trusted freedom will be able to manumit even during that time when he is prohibited from alienating.
§40.5.31.3Si patronus contra tabulas bonorum possessionem acceperit, quia eum praeterierit libertus, non cogetur uendere seruum proprium, quem rogatus erat a liberto suo manumittere.
If a patron has obtained possession of goods contrary to the will because his freedman passed him over, he shall not be compelled to sell his own slave whom he had been requested by his freedman to manumit.
§40.5.31.4Si is cuius seruus est nolit eum uendere, ut manumitteretur, nullae praetoris partes sunt: idem est et si pluris iusto uendere uelit.
If the owner of the slave is unwilling to sell him so that he may be manumitted, the praetor has no role to play; the same applies if he wishes to sell him for more than a fair price.
sin autem certo quidem pretio, quod non prima facie uidetur esse iniquum, dominus seruum uendere paratus est, is uero, qui rogatus est manumittere, immodicum id esse nititur, praetoris partes erunt interponendae, ut iusto pretio uolenti domino dato libertas ab emptore praestetur.
But if the owner is ready to sell the slave at a certain price which does not at first sight seem unfair, while the person requested to manumit strives to show that it is excessive, the role of the praetor must be interposed, so that upon the fair price being given to the willing owner, freedom may be performed by the buyer.
quod si et dominus uendere paratus sit et seruus uelit manumitti, cogendus est heres redimere et manumittere, nisi dominus uelit seruum manumittere, ut actio sibi pretii in heredem detur: idque faciendum est etiam, si heres latitet: et ita imperator Antoninus rescripsit.
But if both the owner is ready to sell and the slave wishes to be manumitted, the heir must be compelled to buy and manumit, unless the owner prefers to manumit the slave himself so that an action for the price may be granted to him against the heir; and this must be done even if the heir is in hiding; and our Emperor Antoninus replied by rescript to this effect.

Notes

  1. §40.5.31.prtestamenti factio — Refers to the capacity to take or benefit under a testament (testamenti factio passiva). For a trust regarding another's slave to be valid, the slave's owner must possess this capacity.
  2. §40.5.31.prsi tamen eius sit, cum quo testamenti factio est — Syntactically, `eius` is the genitive of `is`, serving as the antecedent of the relative pronoun `quo` (governed by `cum`). The clause means: 'provided, however, that the slave is the property of one with whom there is the capacity to take under a testament.'
  3. §40.5.31.1ab utroque praestandam — An accusative-with-infinitive construction with `esse` omitted after the gerundive `praestandam`. `utroque` (both) refers to the originally expected heir and the posthumous child (`postumus`) born later.
  4. §40.5.31.3contra tabulas bonorum possessionem — Refers to the praetorian remedy of 'possession of goods contrary to the will' (contra tabulas bonorum possessio). If a freedman passed over his patron in his will, the patron could claim this possession, which in turn exempted him from the obligation to sell and manumit his own slave under the trust.
  5. §40.5.31.4nisi dominus uelit seruum manumittere, ut actio sibi pretii in heredem detur — A `nisi` clause expressing an exception. The subject is `dominus`. The reflexive pronoun `sibi` refers to the master (the subject of the clause), and `ut` introduces a purpose clause: so that the master, by manumitting the slave himself, may be granted an action for the price (`actio pretii`) against the heir.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.5.31.pr-40.5.31.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.5.31.pr-40.5.31.4

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