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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.8.3.pr

Freedom of Sold Slaves and Survival of the Seller

Passage 6516 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A rescript of the divine Marcus and his son concerning the status of a slave sold under the condition of manumission within a set term, distinguishing the cases when the seller is still alive and when the seller has died.

[CALLISTRATUS libro tertio de cognitionibus. ] §40.8.3.prEum, qui ita uenit, ut intra tempus manumitteretur, cum dies praestandae libertatis uenerit uiuente uenditore et perseuerante in eadem uoluntate, perinde haberi, ac si ab eo, a quo debuit manumitti, manumissus esset: mortuo autem uenditore non esse heredum eius uoluntatem explorandam diuus Marcus cum filio suo rescripsit.
[CALLISTRATUS, from the third book on Extraordinary Jurisdictions.] The divine Marcus and his son replied by rescript that a person who was sold on the condition that he should be manumitted within a certain time, when the day for granting freedom has arrived, if the seller is still living and perseveres in the same intention, is to be treated in the same manner as if he had been manumitted by the person by whom he ought to have been manumitted; but if the seller is dead, the intention of his heirs is not to be inquired into.

Notes

  1. §40.8.3.pruenit — This is the perfect tense third-person singular uēnit of the verb ueneo (to be sold), not from uenio (to come). Accompanied by the ita ..., ut... clause, it means "was sold on the condition that...".
  2. §40.8.3.prEum... rescripsit — The entire sentence is governed by the main clause diuus Marcus cum filio suo rescripsit (the divine Marcus and his son replied by rescript), with the preceding part functioning as an accusative with infinitive (indirect discourse). In the first part, Eum is the subject of perinde haberi, and in the second part, uoluntatem is the subject of non esse ... explorandam.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.8.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.8.3.pr

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