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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.21.pr

Conditions for the Manumission of a Female Slave for Marriage

Passage 6543 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It states that a female slave can only be manumitted for marriage by the person who intends to marry her, explaining that manumission is void if one person manumits her and another marries her, along with Julianus' opinion on subsequent marriage after divorce.

[IDEM libro primo pandectarum. ] §40.9.21.prMatrimonii causa manumitti ancilla a nullo alio potest quam qui eam uxorem ducturus est.
[THE SAME, from the first book of the Pandects.] female slave can be manumitted for the sake of marriage by no other than him who is going to marry her.
quod si alter manumiserit matrimonii causa, alter eam uxorem ducat, non erit libera, adeo ut nec si intra sex quidem menses eam repudiatam postea manumissor uxorem duxerit, liberam eam fieri Iulianus respondit, quasi de his nuptiis senatus senserit, quae post manumissionem nullis aliis interpositis secutae fuerunt.
But if one manumits her for the sake of marriage, and another marries her, she will not be free; so much so that Julianus replied that she does not become free, not even if the manumitter subsequently marries her after she has been divorced within six months, as if the senate had in mind only those marriages which followed after the manumission without any other intervening.

Notes

  1. §40.9.21.prMatrimonii causa — Ablative of cause/purpose meaning "for the sake of marriage." It points to the specific legal motive of manumitting a female slave.
  2. §40.9.21.prquod si — A combination of the relative pronoun quod used as a conjunction and si, meaning "but if" and serving to strengthen the logical connection with the preceding sentence.
  3. §40.9.21.pradeo ut — Introduces a result clause with the subsequent indicative perfect respondit ("to such an extent that..."). Within this clause lies Iulianus respondit, which governs the accusative with infinitive liberam eam fieri in indirect speech.
  4. §40.9.21.prnec si intra sex quidem menses — nec ... quidem ("not even") modifies the conditional clause si ... duxerit, and as a whole negates the infinitive phrase liberam eam fieri ("does not become free").
  5. §40.9.21.prnullis aliis interpositis — Ablative absolute construction meaning "without any others intervening," referring to the situation where marriage with the manumitter occurs directly after manumission without any intervening marriage or event with someone else.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.21.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.21.pr

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