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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.18.pr-40.9.18.1

Manumission in Insolvent Estates and Countervalue Payments

Passage 6540 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section discusses the invalidity of manumission in an insolvent inheritance, examining how changes in the estate's solvency between death and acceptance, as well as payments made by the slave or others, affect the determination of fraud on creditors.

[IDEM libro sexto decimo ad Plautium. ] §40.9.18.prSi mortis tempore soluendo sit hereditas, si tamen cum aditur desierit esse soluendo, libertas a testatore in fraudem creditorum relicta non competet: nam sicut aucta hereditas prodest libertatibus, ita nocet deminuta.
[The same, from the sixteenth book on Plautius.] If at the time of death the inheritance is solvent, yet if when it is entered upon it has ceased to be solvent, the freedom left by the testator in fraud of creditors will not vest; for just as an increased inheritance benefits freedoms, so a diminished one harms them.
§40.9.18.1Si is, cui libertas relicta est, iussus sit heredi dare tantum, quanti est, et liber esse, uideamus, an adhuc fraus sit creditorum, quia heres mortis causa accepturus est, an uero, si alius pro eo uel ipse non de peculio det, nulla sit fraus.
If he to whom freedom has been left is ordered to give to the heir as much as he is worth, and to be free, let us see whether there is still a fraud on creditors, because the heir is to receive it on account of death, or whether indeed, if another pays for him or he himself pays not out of his peculium, there is no fraud.
sed si heres locuples non proficit ad libertatem, nec qui dat pecuniam prodesse potest.
But if a wealthy heir does not avail toward freedom, neither can he who gives the money be of benefit.

Notes

  1. §40.9.18.prsoluendo — The dative of the gerundive, used with the verb 'esse' to denote solvency (i.e., being in a state to pay or meet liabilities). Literally, 'to be for paying'.
  2. §40.9.18.praditur — The subject is 'hereditas' (inheritance) from the preceding clause. The phrase 'adire hereditatem' refers to the legal act of entering upon or accepting an inheritance. It highlights that the solvency of the estate is judged at the time of acceptance rather than at the time of death.
  3. §40.9.18.1quanti est — The genitive of value or price (quanti), meaning 'how much he (the slave) is worth'. It correlates with 'tantum' to mean 'an amount equivalent to his own value'.
  4. §40.9.18.1sed si heres locuples non proficit ad libertatem — The logical structure here is based on analogy. Even if the heir is personally wealthy (locuples), this does not make the manumission valid if the estate itself is insolvent. Similarly, the fact that the slave or a third party pays money (pecunia) cannot legally cure the insolvency of the estate itself to validate the freedom.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.18.pr-40.9.18.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.18.pr-40.9.18.1

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