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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.29.pr-40.9.29.1

Manumission of Pledged Slaves and Conditionally Bequeathed Slaves

Passage 6551 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

On the capacity of a pledged slave to obtain freedom (provided the debtor is solvent), and the prohibition of a conditionally bequeathed slave obtaining freedom from the heir while the condition is pending.

[GAIUS libro primo de manumissionibus. ] §40.9.29.prGeneraliter pignori datus seruus sine dubio pleno iure debitoris est et iustam libertatem ab eo consequi potest, si lex Aelia Sentia non impediat libertatem, id est si soluendo sit nec ob id creditores uideantur fraudari.
[GAIUS, from the first book on Manumissions.] In general, a slave given in pledge undoubtedly belongs to the debtor by full right, and can obtain lawful freedom from him, if the Lex Aelia Sentia does not impede that freedom, that is, if the debtor is solvent and the creditors do not appear to be defrauded thereby.
§40.9.29.1Sub condicione seruus legatus pendente condicione pleno iure heredis est, sed nullam libertatem ab eo consequi potest, ne legatario iniuria fieret.
A slave bequeathed under a condition belongs to the heir by full right while the condition is pending, but he cannot obtain any freedom from him, lest an injury should be done to the legatee.

Notes

  1. §40.9.29.prsoluendo sit — soluendo is the dative of the gerund (or gerundive), which, when combined with esse, forms a legal idiom meaning "to be solvent" (literally, "to be for paying"). The subject is contextually debitor (the debtor).
  2. §40.9.29.1pendente condicione — An ablative absolute construction consisting of the present participle pendens (pending, unresolved) and the noun condicio in the ablative. It expresses the temporal background: "while the condition is pending" (i.e., before it is fulfilled).
  3. §40.9.29.1ne legatario iniuria fieret — A clause of purpose introduced by ne with the imperfect subjunctive fieret (to happen, be done). Although the main verb potest is in the present tense, the secondary sequence (imperfect) is used here either to refer back to the testator's intention at the time of making the will, or to imply a potential counterfactual condition ("lest an injury should happen to the legatee, were such manumission allowed").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.29.pr-40.9.29.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.29.pr-40.9.29.1

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