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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.17.pr-40.9.17.2

Invalidity of Coerced or Pretextual Manumission

Passage 6539 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section establishes that manumissions made under public coercion or as a pretense to avoid punishment are invalid, and rules that for those restricted from manumission for a period, the timing of their freedom's validity, not the creation of the will, is the relevant standard.

[IDEM libro singulari de libertatibus. ] §40.9.17.prSi priuatus coactus a populo manumiserit, quamuis uoluntatem accommodauerit, tamen non erit liber: nam et diuus Marcus prohibuit ex adclamatione populi manumittere.
[The same, from the single book on Freedoms.] If a private person, compelled by the populace, manumits a slave, even though they adapted their will to the circumstance, nevertheless the slave will not be free; for the Divine Marcus also forbade manumitting on account of the acclamation of the populace.
§40.9.17.1Item non fit liber, si mentitus dominus, ne a magistratibus castigaretur, dixit esse liberum, si non fuit uoluntatis manumittendi.
Likewise, he does not become free if the master, lying in order not to be punished by the magistrates, said that he was free, if the master did not have the intention of manumitting.
§40.9.17.2In his, quos intra certa tempora non licet manumittere, si testamento acceperint libertatem, non testamenti facti, sed competentis libertatis tempus inspiciendum est.
In the case of those whom it is not permitted to manumit within certain times, if they receive their freedom by a will, not the time when the will was made, but the time when the freedom becomes due must be considered.

Notes

  1. 40.9.17.prquamuis uoluntatem accommodauerit — A concessive clause with the perfect subjunctive `accommodauerit`. It shows that even if the owner externally adapted their will to comply with the coercion, the manumission is still invalid due to duress.
  2. 40.9.17.1si non fuit uoluntatis manumittendi — `uoluntatis` (genitive) is a genitive of description/quality describing the omitted subject `dominus`. The phrase means "if the master was not of the intention to manumit."
  3. 40.9.17.2competentis libertatis — `competentis` is the present participle of the intransitive verb `competere` (to belong, to become due/vested). It refers to the "accruing/vesting freedom," meaning the point in time when the freedom under the will legally becomes effective.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.17.pr-40.9.17.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.17.pr-40.9.17.2

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