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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.5.36.pr-40.5.36.2

Fideicommissary Freedom for Absentees and Senatusconsulta

Passage 6448 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This chunk details the classes of absentees and wards exempt from the Rubrian senatusconsultum, explains the remedies under the Dasumian senatusconsultum, and establishes that neither procuratorial defense nor personal or municipal privileges can impede the jurisdiction over fideicommissary freedom.

[IDEM libro sexto decimo fideicommissorum. ] §40.5.36.prNeque infantes neque furiosi neque ab hostibus capti neque hi, quos religio aut honestior causa uel calamitas aliqua uel maior res familiaris aut capitis famaeue periculum aut similis causa moretur, Rubriano senatus consulto continentur: ac ne pupilli quidem, qui tutores non habent, aut eos habeant, quos earum quae causa detinet.
[THE SAME AUTHOR, in the sixteenth book on fideicommissa.] Neither infants, nor insane persons, nor those captured by enemies, nor those who are detained by religion, a more honorable cause, some calamity, a more important domestic matter, danger to life or reputation, or a similar cause, are covered by the Rubrian senatusconsultum; and not even wards who do not have tutors, or who have tutors whom any of those causes detains.
sed nec, si hi data opera sui potestatem non faciunt, puto pupillis libertos eripi, quia et iniquum est facto tutoris, qui forsitan soluendo non sit, pupillum damno adfici, et senatus consulto non continetur alius quis quam qui ex causa fideicommissi debet praestare libertatem.
But even if these tutors intentionally fail to make themselves available, I do not think that freedmen are taken away from the wards, because it is both unjust that a ward should suffer loss through the act of a tutor who is perhaps insolvent, and no one else is covered by the senatusconsultum than the one who is bound to provide freedom by virtue of a fideicommissum.
quid ergo est? Dasumiano senatus consulto subuenitur his, quo cautum est de his, qui iusta ex causa abessent, ut nec libertas impediatur nec libertus eripiatur his, qui fraude careant.
What then is the case? Relief is given to them by the Dasumian senatusconsultum, in which it is provided concerning those who are absent for a just cause, that freedom is not hindered nor is a freedman taken away from those who are free from fraud.
§40.5.36.1Si per procuratorem quis defendatur, semper iusta ex causa abesse dicitur nec libertus ei eripitur.
If anyone is defended through a procurator, he is always said to be absent for a just cause, and a freedman is not taken away from him.
§40.5.36.2Nihil facit ad interpellandam iurisdictionem eius, qui de fideicommissa libertate cognoscit, priuilegium cuiusque uel ciuitatis uel corporis uel officii, in quo quisque est, uel condicio personarum.
The privilege of anyone's city, association, or office in which he is, or the condition of the persons, does nothing to interrupt the jurisdiction of the one who takes cognizance of the fideicommissary freedom.

Notes

  1. 40.5.36.prearum quae causa detinet — The genitive plural demonstrative pronoun earum refers to the various legitimate excuses for absence listed at the beginning of the sentence (from religion to similis causa). The word quae functions here as the indefinite pronoun aliquae ("any"), yielding the sense "which [any] of those causes detains [them]."
  2. 40.5.36.prsui potestatem non faciunt — The phrase potestatem sui facere is a Roman legal idiom meaning "to make oneself available," i.e., to appear in court or submit to a summons. Here, combined with data opera ("intentionally") and the negative non, it means failing to present oneself on purpose.
  3. 40.5.36.prsoluendo non sit — The combination of the dative gerundive soluendo with the verb esse is a legal idiom meaning "to be solvent" (dative of purpose or fitness). Here, used with the subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic (qui... non sit), it describes a tutor who "is perhaps insolvent."
  4. 40.5.36.2Nihil facit ad — The idiom nihil facere ad followed by an accusative means "to do nothing for," "to have no effect on," or "to be of no avail to." The subjects are priuilegium and condicio at the end of the sentence, indicating that personal privileges do not affect the magistrate's jurisdiction.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.5.36.pr-40.5.36.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.5.36.pr-40.5.36.2

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