Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.16.pr-40.9.16.5

Manumission by Minors and Standards for Fraud of Creditors

Passage 6538 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It discusses the conditions under which the transfer or manumission of slaves by owners under twenty years of age is void, defines the prevention of defrauding creditors under the Aelia Sentia Law, and addresses the treatment of freedmen manumitted by debtors of the treasury.

[IDEM libro tertio ad legem Aeliam Sentiam. ] §40.9.16.prSi, cum fideicommissa libertas debeatur, minor uiginti annis seruum uendat, ut manumittatur, uel quia hac lege emerat, non impedietur alienatio.
[The same, from the third book on the Aelia Sentia Law.] If, when a freedom under a trust is due, a person under twenty years of age sells a slave in order that they may be manumitted, or because they had purchased the slave under this condition, the alienation will not be prevented.
§40.9.16.1Si partem, quam in communi seruo habet minor uiginti annis, manumittendi causa tradat, nihil aget: sed si, cum ipse causam probare posset, tradiderit, nulla fraus intellegetur.
If a person under twenty years of age delivers the share which they have in a common slave for the purpose of manumitting, it will have no effect; but if they deliver it at a time when they themselves could have proved a just cause, no fraud will be understood to exist.
§40.9.16.2Ne quis creditorum fraudandorum causa seruum manumittat, hac lege cauetur: creditores autem appellantur, quibus quacumque ex causa actio cum fraudatore competat.
It is provided by this law that no one shall manumit a slave for the purpose of defrauding creditors; moreover, those to whom an action against the defrauder lies for any cause whatsoever are called creditors.
§40.9.16.3Aristo respondit a debitore fisci, qui soluendo non erat, manumissum ita reuocari in seruitutem debere, si non diu in libertate fuisset, id est non minus decennio: plane ea, quae in fraudem fisci in sinus eius collata sunt, reuocanda.
Aristo answered that a person manumitted by a debtor of the treasury who was insolvent ought to be recalled into slavery in this way, if he had not been in freedom for a long time, that is, not less than ten years; clearly, those things which were accumulated into his lap to the fraud of the treasury must be recalled.
§40.9.16.4Si sub condicione alicui pecunia debeatur, quasi statuliber erit a debitore manumissus, ut pendeat libertas ex condicione.
If money is owed to someone under a condition, a person manumitted by the debtor will be, as it were, a conditionally free slave, so that their freedom depends on the condition.
§40.9.16.5Si uoluntate patris filius manumiserit, siue pater siue filius sciat soluendo patrem non esse, libertas impeditur.
If a son manumits by the will of his father, and either the father or the son knows that the father is insolvent, the freedom is prevented.

Notes

  1. §40.9.16.prhac lege — This phrase can be interpreted either as "under this condition" (referring to a clause in the sale, lex emptionis) or "under this law" (referring to the Lex Aelia Sentia). Interpreting it as the former ("under the condition of manumission") aligns better with the purpose of the sale (ut manumittatur).
  2. §40.9.16.3non minus decennio — The ablative "decennio" is used with the comparative "minus", meaning "not less than ten years". It qualifies and defines the preceding "si non diu... fuisset" ("if he had not been in freedom for a long time"), collectively meaning that the person is recalled into slavery if the period of freedom was less than ten years.
  3. §40.9.16.5siue pater siue filius sciat — "siue ... siue ..." expresses a disjunctive condition, meaning here "whether the father or the son knows". This implies that the manumission is prevented if either one of them is aware of the insolvency, and is valid only if both were ignorant.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.16.pr-40.9.16.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.16.pr-40.9.16.5

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.