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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.20.pr

Subsequent Inheritance Not Validating Unauthorized Manumission

Passage 6542 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

If freedom is granted to another's slave without the master's consent, it does not become valid even if the manumitter subsequently becomes the master's heir through inheritance.

[IDEM libro singulari de enucleatis casibus. ] §40.9.20.prSi seruo alieno libertas non consentiente domino data est, ualere ex auctoritate iuris non potest, quamuis postea manumissor domino heres extitit, nam licet eius iure cognationis qui manumisit heres extitit, non ideo aditione hereditatis libertatis datio confirmatur.
[THE SAME, from the single book on Explained Cases.] If freedom is given to another's slave without the consent of the master, it cannot be valid by authority of law, although afterwards the manumitter became heir to the master; for although he who manumitted became heir by right of relationship to him, the giving of freedom is not for that reason confirmed by the acceptance of the inheritance.

Notes

  1. §40.9.20.prnon consentiente domino — An ablative absolute construction with the present participle ("the master not consenting"), meaning "without the consent of the master."
  2. §40.9.20.preius iure cognationis qui manumisit — The pronoun 'eius' refers to the deceased master and modifies 'iure cognationis' ('by right of relationship to him'). The relative pronoun 'qui' has 'the manumitter' (understood as the subject) as its antecedent, structured as 'qui manumisit heres extitit' ('he who manumitted became heir').

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.20.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.20.pr

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