Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.5.5.pr

Freedom Decreed in the Heir's Absence and Preservation Upon Death

Passage 6415 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Describes the effect of the praetor's declaration of liberty in the heir's absence, and the senatorial decree of Hadrian's time on preserving liberty upon the heir's successorless death.

[PAULUS libro quinquagesimo septimo ad edictum. ] §40.5.5.prIn fideicommissariis libertatibus si absente herede praetor pronuntiasset libertatem deberi, est et liber et defuncti libertus, si et seruus eius fuit, aut heredis, si seruus heredis sit.
[PAULUS libro quinquagesimo septimo ad edictum.] In trust-bequeathed liberties, if the praetor, in the absence of the heir, has pronounced that liberty is owed, the person is both free and a freedman of the deceased, if he was also his slave, or of the heir, if he is a slave of the heir.
immo et si sine successore heres decesserit, conseruandam esse libertatem senatus Hadriani temporibus censuit.
Nay more, even if the heir has died without a successor, the senate in the time of Hadrian resolved that liberty must be preserved.

Notes

  1. §40.5.5.prabsente herede — An ablative absolute construction using the ablative form of the present participle absens, indicating the circumstance 'in the absence of the heir' or 'while the heir is absent'.
  2. §40.5.5.prlibertatem deberi — An accusative with infinitive clause functioning as the object of the verb pronuntiasset, with the passive infinitive deberi (to be owed), meaning '[if the praetor] pronounced that liberty is owed'.
  3. §40.5.5.prdefuncti — A possessive genitive modifying libertus, contrasted with the subsequent heredis (of the heir), indicating that if the slave originally belonged to the 'deceased', he becomes his freedman.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.5.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.5.5.pr

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