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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.10.pr

Insolvency and Fraudulent versus Innocent Manumission

Passage 6532 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Gaius explains that a person who is insolvent at the time of manumission or becomes so because of it is deemed to manumit in fraud of creditors, and notes that those conducting business abroad often do so without fraudulent intent, being unaware of their businesses' decline.

[GAIUS libro primo rerum cottidianarum siue aureorum. ] §40.9.10.prIn fraudem creditorum manumittere uidetur, qui uel iam eo tempore, quo manumittit, soluendo non est uel datis libertatibus desiturus est soluendo esse.
[GAIUS, from the first book of Everyday Matters or Golden Words.] A person is deemed to manumit in fraud of creditors who either is already insolvent at the very time when he manumits, or is going to cease to be solvent by the granting of freedoms.
saepe enim de facultatibus suis amplius, quam in his est, sperant homines.
For men often expect more from their resources than is actually in them.
quod frequenter accidit his, qui transmarinas negotiationes et aliis regionibus, quam in quibus ipsi morantur, per seruos atque libertos exercent: quod saepe, adtritis istis negotiationibus longo tempore, id ignorant et manumittendo sine fraudis consilio indulgent seruis suis libertatem.
This frequently happens to those who conduct overseas business, and in regions other than those in which they themselves reside, through slaves and freedmen; for they are often ignorant of the fact that these businesses have been ruined over a long period, and they grant freedom to their slaves by manumitting them without any intent to defraud.

Notes

  1. §40.9.10.prsoluendo — The dative of the gerund of solvere (to pay). Together with esse in the phrase soluendo esse, it forms an idiomatic expression meaning 'to be solvent', originating from the dative of purpose or fitness.
  2. §40.9.10.prdatis libertatibus — Ablative absolute consisting of the noun libertatibus and the perfect passive participle datis. It shows the cause or condition for desiturus est ('going to cease to be solvent') and is best translated as 'by the granting of freedoms.'
  3. §40.9.10.praliis regionibus, quam in quibus ipsi morantur — Correlative structure aliis... quam... meaning 'in other regions than those in which they themselves reside.' aliis regionibus functions as an ablative of place with the preposition omitted, corresponding to in quibus in the comparative clause.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.10.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.10.pr

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