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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.3.pr

Legacy of Choice of a Slave and Limits on Manumission

Passage 6525 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

When the choice of a slave is bequeathed, the heir cannot destroy or diminish the legatee's right of selection by freeing the slaves, as each individual slave is deemed to have been bequeathed conditionally.

[GAIUS libro secundo de legatis ad edictum urbicum. ] §40.9.3.prSi optio hominis data sit uel indistincte homo legatus sit, non potest heres quosdam seruos uel omnes manumittendo aut euertere aut minuere ius electionis: nam optione siue electione serui data quodammodo singuli sub condicione legati uidentur.
[GAIUS, from the second book on legacies, to the urban edict.] If the choice of a slave has been given, or if a slave has been bequeathed without specific identification, the heir cannot, by manumitting certain slaves or all of them, either destroy or diminish the right of selection; for when the choice or selection of a slave is given, each individual slave seems in a certain sense to have been bequeathed under a condition.

Notes

  1. §40.9.3.prhominis — Here, homo does not mean "human being" in a general sense, but is used in its common legal meaning to refer to a "slave" (seruus).
  2. §40.9.3.prmanumittendo — A gerund in the ablative case expressing means ("by manumitting"), which modifies the complementary infinitives euertere and minuere dependent on the main verb potest.
  3. §40.9.3.prsinguli — Here, singuli refers to singuli serui ("individual slaves"); the omitted noun serui accounts for the masculine plural agreement of the participle legati.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.3.pr

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