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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.26.pr

Manumission of a Pledged Slave and Payment of Debt

Passage 6548 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The jurists discuss whether a pledged slave manumitted by the debtor's heir becomes free, concluding that freedom is not attained while the debt is outstanding, but is realized once the debt is paid.

[SCAEUOLA libro quarto responsorum. ] §40.9.26.prPignori obligatum seruum debitoris heres manumisit: quaesitum est, an liber esset.
[SCAEVOLA, from the fourth book of Opinions.] An heir of a debtor manumitted a slave who had been pledged as security; the question arose whether he was free.
respondit secundum ea quae proponerentur, si pecunia etiam nunc deberetur, non esse manumissione liberum factum.
He replied that, according to the facts presented, if the money were still owed, he had not been made free by the manumission.
PAULUS: soluta ergo pecunia ex illa uoluntate liber fit.
PAULUS: Therefore, when the money has been paid, he becomes free by virtue of that expression of will.

Notes

  1. §40.9.26.prpignori obligatum seruum — Meaning 'a slave pledged as security.' The dative form pignori of the noun pignus functions here as a dative of purpose or end, modifying obligatum.
  2. §40.9.26.prsi pecunia etiam nunc deberetur — The imperfect subjunctive deberetur is due to the 'sequence of tenses' in the conditional clause within indirect speech, depending on the past verb of replying, respondit.
  3. §40.9.26.prnon esse manumissione liberum factum — An Accusative with Infinitive (AcI) construction serving as the object clause of the main verb respondit. The subject accusative seruum is omitted as it is clear from the context.
  4. §40.9.26.prsoluta ergo pecunia — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the perfect participle soluta and the noun pecunia, expressing a condition ('if/once the money has been paid'). This is part of Paulus's supplementary note.
  5. §40.9.26.prex illa uoluntate — Meaning 'by virtue of that expression of will' (i.e., the declaration of manumission formerly made by the heir). It indicates that once the condition of paying the debt is fulfilled, the prior expression of will becomes effective and the slave becomes free.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.26.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.26.pr

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