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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.5.54.pr

Enforcing Child's Freedom on Mother's Refusal or Death

Passage 6467 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It regulates the procedure for securing the child's freedom if the mother or her successor refuses manumission, or if the mother refuses delivery or has died.

[MAECIANUS libro sexto decimo fideicommissorum. ] §40.5.54.prSi mater, postquam filium accepisset, uel qui in eius locum successit praestare noluit libertatem, compellendi sunt: amplius si mater aut nollet sibi filium tradi aut in rerum natura esse desisset, non ab re est dicere, nihilo minus ita natis ab herede libertatem praestari.
[MAECIANUS in the sixteenth book of Trusts.] If the mother, after she had received her son, or he who succeeded to her place, has refused to grant freedom, they must be compelled to do so. Furthermore, if the mother either was unwilling for her son to be delivered to her, or had ceased to exist in the nature of things, it is not unreasonable to say that, nonetheless, freedom is to be granted to those so born by the heir.

Notes

  1. §40.5.54.prcompellendi sunt — Although the singular subjects mater and the relative clause qui ... successit are connected by uel ('or'), the gerundive is in the plural form compellendi sunt. This indicates that whichever of them refuses to perform the obligation is equally subject to legal compulsion.
  2. §40.5.54.prin rerum natura esse desisset — This phrase ('to cease to exist in the nature of things') is a standard euphemism in Latin legal texts meaning 'to die.' The pluperfect subjunctive desisset represents a hypothetical condition prior to the main action.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.5.54.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.5.54.pr

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