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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §40.9.7.pr-40.9.7.1

Fraudulent Codicils and Evasion of Law by Minors

Passage 6529 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In §40.9.7.pr, it is established that a fraudulent intent in granting freedom via a codicil voids the liberation under the law regardless of the solvency when the codicil was confirmed, while §40.9.7.1 shows that a transfer of a slave by a minor under twenty to bypass legal restrictions on manumission is deemed an invalid fraud against the law.

[IULIANUS libro secundo ad Urseium Ferocem. ] §40.9.7.prSi quis integris facultatibus codicillos confirmauit, deinde, cum consilium creditorum fraudandorum cepisset, libertates codicillis dederit, optineri non potest, quo minus lege libertates interpellarentur: nam consilium testatoris fraudulentum non eo tempore obseruatur, quo codicilli confirmantur, sed quo libertas codicillis datur.
[JULIANUS, from the second book on Urseius Ferox.] If someone, with unimpaired resources, has confirmed a codicil, and then, after conceiving a plan to defraud his creditors, has granted freedoms by the codicil, it cannot be maintained that the freedoms are not blocked by the law; for the fraudulent intent of the testator is not observed at the time when the codicil is confirmed, but when the freedom is granted by the codicil.
§40.9.7.1Minor annis uiginti cum seruum manumittere uellet nec iustam causam ad consilium manumittendi haberet, tibi eum ut manumitteres dedit: negauit eum Proculus liberum esse, quoniam fraus legi facta esset.
When a person under twenty years of age wished to manumit a slave but did not have a just cause for the purpose of manumission, and gave him to you so that you might manumit him, Proculus denied that he was free, since a fraud had been committed against the law.

Notes

  1. §40.9.7.proptineri non potest, quo minus lege libertates interpellarentur — The clause introduced by 'quo minus' depending on the negative phrase 'optineri non potest' (it cannot be maintained). It means 'it cannot be prevented that the freedoms are interrupted by the law,' meaning that the freedoms are legally and inevitably blocked.
  2. §40.9.7.1fraus legi facta esset — The noun 'fraus' combined with the dative 'legi' (against the law). It refers to the circumvention of the Lex Aelia Sentia, which regulated manumissions by owners under twenty. The subjunctive 'facta esset' indicates the subjective reason alleged by Proculus in indirect speech.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §40.9.7.pr-40.9.7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:40.9.7.pr-40.9.7.1

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